Top of the Ladder
by Eieriann
Summary: Lucy was a prostitute until someone found her and brought her back into the better world. This is a story on how she climbed to the top of his world.
1. Prolouge

_Yay, new story! I hope this will only be 3 or 4 chapter._

**Disclaimer: I only own the laptop this was written on. and the plot...**

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**Prologue**

"Come back with me."

Lucy flipped her blonde tresses over her shoulder and glared down at the man sitting on the lush bed. She turned abruptly and sauntered off to her mirror processing what he just told. She sat down and began to brush out her hair.

Still brushing her hair she turned and stared at him again, not sure if she had heard correctly. "What are you talking about? If we aren't going to fuck, you can have your money back."

"Listen to what I'm trying to tell you! I'm tired of watching you live like this. Come back with me, I'll provide you everything you could ever need. You won't have to sell yourself anymore! You can be happy again…" He looked at her straight in the eye to prove how sincere he was.

"No, you listen to me. You don't know me! Did it ever occur to you that I like being a whore? Maybe I like the feel of different people in me every night! " Lucy turned her head away to her tears from. None of it was true, she hated selling her body.

She pulled out her purse and dug around for a bit before tossing some money in his direction. "Just leave if you're not going to get what you paid for." She began to dress herself again, covering up her expensive lingerie.

"Lucy, I do know you. We were friends for the longest time. Don't you know me anymore?" His onyx eyes were pleading her. "Please Lucy; you would never have to work this kind of life again." He stood up and walked to her.

Lucy took steps backwards the closer he got. "Go away! I never want to see-"She was cut off by him giving her a strong hug.

"Please Luce, just for a week…" He laid his head on top of hers inhaling the sweet scent of her. The nostalgia shook him like an earthquake and a tear escaped from his eye.

Lucy pushed him away, her head bowed. "How did you know that name?" She gave him a weak smile of recognition. "I haven't heard it in years."

"I'm the one that gave it to you, how could I ever forget. Do you remember Luigi, too? If memory proves me correct, you didn't particularly like that one." He tilted her head up and gave her a slight smile.

She wrapped her arms around his torso and buried her head in his chest. "I'll go back, Natsu."

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_Please review, I have chapter one planned out I just need some reviews to get it up._

Happy Easter!


	2. First Days

_Okay so I noticed something, I can't finish this in 3-4 chapters like I had hoped. I write too slow and ya'll want your updates. I hope you like this chapter I hope to have the next one by Sunday. I've got a shit load of school work to do and I'm still a freshman._

_8 friking reviewa! You guys are da bomb! I love you all :)_

**Disclaimer- I don't own dis shit ma nigbro!**

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The lights flashed by quicker than Lucy had ever seen. She stared from the passenger side window out into the dimly lit night.

She was having a battle inside her mind. Why did she decide to go with him? She never wanted to see him again well, that's what she told herself every day. Did she finally forgive them? Did she ever really hate them at all?

Her eyes filled as she thought of those she would see again. The very ones she ran from only three years ago.

She put those thoughts in the back of her head to keep from making a scene in the car. Finally, she took notice of where they were. It was the part of Magnolia she hardly ever visited even when she lived here. It was far too posh for her likings, even now her stomach churned at the sight of the houses.

The car finally began to slow to a stop. The house it was parked in front of was better than the houses to the side of it. It was smaller and even though the front steps were made of marble, it had a better sense of home to it.

While Lucy stared, Natsu went around opening her door. She shook her head to bring her back from her thoughts. Lucy stood and stretched having been sitting in his car for a couple of hours without any stops.

"How were you able to drive? Last I remember, you suffered from terrible motion sickness." She smiled at the old memories while Natsu just blushed and looked away.

"I learned that as long as I'm the one driving, I'll do just fine. Let's get you inside." He checked his watched and grinned. "It's three a.m. we should hurry so we don't bother the neighbors."

In a matter of seconds Natsu unlocked the front door and let Lucy enter his humble abode. "Welcome to my house."

Lucy's mouth dropped open at the entrance. Not only was the outside marble but the front door was mahogany, and the house was far warmer than any she had ever been in. "How did you manage a house like this? You used to live in the middle of the woods…" She trailed off as they walked through the house leading to the upstairs.

"This is your room," he pointed to a door at the end of the hall, "and this is mine. If you need anything, I'm only thirty feet away." He opened her door for her and let her through. He flicked on the light to let her get a better look.

Lucy's room was a pale pink though she imagined that in the moonlight it would appear white. Her bed was a queen sized one with pure white covers. She walked to the side of her bed and felt the pillows. They were soft as snow.

Natsu laid her bag of clothes at the foot of her bed. "Good night, Lucy. I'll see you in the morning." He gave her a swift hug and left quickly.

Lucy sat on the bed and let her tears silently fall. She rolled onto her side brought her hands up to her eyes.

She was ashamed. To live with the very guy she ditched, that ditched her. Could she ever love him again? These thoughts ran through her head as she fell into a restless sleep.

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Lucy's eyes shot open as the darkness tried to consume her into the pit of its stomach. She shot up from the bed and ran to turn on the light. When the light turned on, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

She was covered in sweat and grime, her makeup was a smeared mess on her face. She went into her bag and took a few makeup wipes and got to work.

After a few minutes she looked at her face again. She looked tired, she felt tired and she was tired. She stood and walked to her bed. She moved to lay in it but something was holding her back.

She turned and ran to the door; she stepped out and stood in the hallway in front of Natsu's door. She gathered all her courage and opened his door.

As she expected, Natsu was laying asleep slightly snoring like her used to. She walked to his bed and snuggled under the covers with him. After a few seconds he woke to the shifting pressure on his bed.

He turned on his side to give her more room to sleep. Just when she thought he had fallen back into sleep, he asked her. "What's wrong, Luce?"

She looked up at him through her bangs and let the tears fall free. She smashed her face into his chest, her tears soaking his shirt. "I-it was a terrible nightmare. There was nothing but darkness and I had no one to save me. You weren't there, no one was."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into to him until they were practically one. Slowly, her tears slowed to a stop and she fell asleep. Eventually Natsu fell asleep, too never loosening his grip on her.

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The next morning Natsu woke to an empty bed but the smell of bacon from the kitchen. He ran down the stairs hoping no one had come over while he slept. He looked at the clock on the wall; he had only gotten five hours of sleep.

When he reached the kitchen he saw Lucy standing there in an apron. Only an apron. He blushed and looked away. "Lucy, why aren't you wearing any clothes?"

She spun around blushing a scarlet shade of red. "I-I don't have any other clothes… Only the ones I wore yesterday and those ones remind me too much of things I want to forget…" She looked away in embarrassment.

Natsu sighed still looking away. "How about we go shopping for some decent clothes today? I know the perfect place, you'll fit right in."

Lucy brightened up at the suggestion. Even now she still loved shopping. "Okay, but can we eat this bacon first? I hate putting food to waste."

"Uh, hell to the yeah! I love bacon, its nature's fruit." Natsu grinned widely and Lucy giggled at his childish manors.

They ate the bacon with some toast and Natsu made eggs to go with them. Soon after they came to an issue, Lucy really didn't have anything else to wear. Well nothing that was appropriate to wear in public.

"I think I might have some sweats you can wear." He led her back into his room. He squatted down to his knees and dug through his drawers looking for something smaller that she could wear. After a few minutes of digging and clothes tossing, he found an outfit from a couple of years back.

"Here you go! I hope these fit, that's the smallest thing I have." He shooed Lucy out so she could change in her room.

Lucy emerged dressed in the baggy sweats still looking cute. Her hair was bound in a braid that reached her mid back. She flipped the braid into the front and tossed on her hood. She grinned thinking of how now she was the one dressing like a pimp.

"Okay, ready. Let's get some shopping done. Also you need more food. It's not healthy to eat only bacon forever." She grabbed his hand and started dragging him to the front door but he stopped in his tracks.

"Where are you going?" He questioned.

"To the front door, duh."

He smirked at her. "Lucy, the front door is this way." He started to pull her in the opposite direction.

Lucy blushed and looked away. "Yeah, I knew that. I was just testing to make sure eating all that bacon didn't make you stupid." She gave off a nervous laugh and started walking with him.

She got in the car and the drive began. "After a few minutes of silence and tense awkwardness, they reached the store. Lucy looked up at it and her jaw dropped at the sight of it.

"You think this is surprising, wait until you see the inside." He grabbed her hand and led her into the store.

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Oh ho ho review! I'd like to say thanks toInukagome9193, Haru Desu, KaUiA, KawaiiOdango, NatsuXLucyForever, HinaSnowBastia, LeiMei and LKB for reviewing. You have no clue how much that made my days. When I got the first one I was all like "Hey maybe they'll like it" and by the 8th I was all "Holy fuck sticks! They like it!" Thank you everyone! And I'm Super sorry if this chapter was a disappointment to you, I tried my hardest. Tell about any grammar things too please.

Review again please!


	3. Rememberance

_I said Sunday and look at that, it's 9:40! Sorry, I kept procrastinating after having lost 1000 words when my computer derped out. I'm done making promises for when I'll have the chapters out but they'll probably be on the weekend. I'm done with disclaimers._

_Oh and this chapter will probably seem like a different style then usual more like the diction( in my standard) is amateur. I'm working on expanding my vocabulary for ya'll._

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Lucy stared up in wonder at the store in front of her. It was as perfect as any clothing store could be. There were shoes of every design; pumps, wedges, flats, everything. A smile grew on her face as her vision expanded form just the shoe section. Just across the aisle from them was the cutest selection of clothing she had ever seen.

To her it seemed as if this store had been made for her. She and Natsu walked to the clothing section first. She examined the clothes and noticed that they were all things she would wear.

She spun around and hugged Natsu around the neck and said, "Thank you so much, Natsu!" Then realizing what she was doing she tore her arms away and took a few steps back until she bumped into a clothing stand.

She dropped her arms to her side and bowed. "S-Sorry."

Natsu frowned and took a few gentle steps towards her. "There's no reason to be sorry, I like when you trust me." He took a few more steps to her. Lucy tensed to the point where her shoulders were practically up to her ears. When Natsu reached her he wrapped his arms around her body waiting for her to relax.

Lucy stayed stiff as he held her. Natsu sighed and let her go. He turned and clapped his hands trying to regain his enthusiasm. "All's good, let's get down to shopping to fill your closet." He turned and walked away. "I'll be waiting by the dressing rooms, bring as many clothes as you want and meet me there." He waved at her over his shoulder before disappearing out of sight.

Lucy sighed and swallowed to keep her tears in. She shook her head to clear her of any thoughts. She walked to the nearest clothing stand and began searching for anything in her size.

After twenty minutes she managed to find seven outfits. Lucy frowned thinking of how she was only going to stay for a week so this was all she would need. She grabbed a cart sitting abandoned by the front of the store and began pushing it to the dressing rooms.

When she reached them she saw Natsu arguing with someone. It wasn't until she heard her name that she became cautious. "N-Natsu, who are you talking to?" The man stood abruptly and rushed to Lucy's side.

He wrapped her in a tight hug that she couldn't tear from even though she tried. "Lucy, it's been so long! We all missed you." He let her go and she stared until it clicked in her head who this guy was.

"Gray?" She asked unsure. She stared into his eyes making sure this wasn't a trick or anything.

"Glad to see that you recognize me." He pulled her in for another hug.

She dashed over to Natsu and hid behind him. She pulled on the back of his shirt so that they could leave. "Wait, don't you want to talk with Gray?" He asked.

She shook her head furiously and pulled on his shirt again. "You haven't tried on any of these clothes yet either." She kept pulling at his shirt.

"I already know the clothes will fit, I want to leave." She turned and started pushing the cart away from them heading for the checkout line.

Natsu sighed and glared at Gray. "I'll talk to you later, we're leaving." He dashed after Lucy quickly catching up with her.

Gray stood there shocked trying to comprehend what just happened. "Hey Gray, what about this one? Does it look professional enough?"

Gray automatically replied without as much as a glance towards the voice. "Yeah Juvia, you look amazing."

Juvia stomped over to him and slapped his arm. "You didn't even look!" When he didn't reply she stared where he was staring. "What are you looking at? Is it another girl?"

Gray robotically turned to her. "Y-Yeah, it was Lucy."

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"Hey, give me the keys." Lucy said staring at the floor.

Natsu stared at her in suspicion. "Why?" He questioned.

"I don't want to be in here any longer. I won't steal your car, I promise." She barely lifted her head to look at him through her bangs again.

Natsu chuckled and dug around in his pockets for a bit before pulling out the keys. He handed them to her and ruffled her hair. "Press the left unlock twice and the right once three times in that order. Don't let anyone else into the car and don't put the keys into the ignition."

Lucy pouted and glared at him. "You don't have to tell me not to put the keys in the ignition. How old do you think I am?" She quickly walked out the door before anyone else could notice her.

She unlocked the car just as Natsu had told her but instead of sitting in the passenger seat; she laid down in the back seat. She rolled over on her stomach to keep the sun out of her eyes.

As soon as her head hit the cushion the tears began to flow. The sobs hit her body in waves. She tried to hold them in, at least until she was in the safety of Natsu's house but they just kept coming. Just when she felt all cried out Natsu showed up holding all her clothes.

She quickly sat up and opened the door for him. She moved from the back seat back up to the passenger and buckled herself in. She gazed out the window to keep him from seeing her eyes.

Natsu slid into the car and started driving. After they exited the parking lot he spoke. "Why were you crying?" He asked without taking his eyes off the road.

Lucy's body stiffened like a stone at the question. She gulped deciding to lie to him. "I-I wasn't crying." She said stiffly.

"I've known you for years on end; it's no use trying to lie to me." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Is it because you saw Gray?"

"No, on my way to the car I closed my pinky in the door." She kept staring, glaring at anything she could focus on at the speed Natsu was driving.

"You're still lying to me."

"It doesn't matter, okay."

The rest of the ride was done in silence. Eventually Lucy looked up and glance at Natsu before sighing. "Thanks for buying me all those clothes, Natsu."

"No problem, it's better than not having anything to wear, right?" He pulled into his drive way and grabbed Lucy's clothes from the back seat.

Lucy left the car and ran to open the door for Natsu. He muttered his thanks and gave Lucy the bags once she was inside. She left without another word to her room.

She dropped the clothes on her bed and glared at them. She lay down and closed her eyes. "This is all my fault. I should've brought more appropriate clothes with me." She rolled on her side and glared at the clothes again.

She sat up and ripped of Natsu's sweats and tossed on the first articles of clothing she could grab. Lucky for her the clothes matched. The shirt was a striped green and blue tank top and the shorts were white. The shorts went way up past her hands almost daring to show off her perfect butt.

She moved the rest of the clothes onto her dresser promising herself she would put them away later. Lucy walked back to the bed and sat on it thinking of Gray and Natsu.

She smiled faintly remembering how back when they were in college they would break into her apartment. They always ate her food and fought. They slept in her bed and Gray would strip while over. Lucy thought for a bit then realized that he was wearing all his clothes when she was him.

Better yet, why was he shopping? Whenever she asked those two to go with her they would refuse her before she even got to finish the question. Lucy smirked thinking he must have gotten himself a girlfriend.

She fell back onto the bed still thinking of the past. There was a nagging feeling in her side telling her she forgot something. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't place her finger on what it was. She let it go and continued to ignore it. Eventually Lucy fell asleep thinking of nothing that could do her harm.

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Her dreams started out calm, like any other. She was floating through a field of flowers and Natsu was there right beside her. She smiled at him and he took her into a gentle hug.

"Hey Natsu, can I stay with you forever?" She asked as they floated to a slow stop.

"Of course, I wasn't planning on letting you go." He said. They fell to the ground in a tangled heap laughing at the nothingness around them.

"Hey Natsu, how did you find me?" She asked as their laughter calmed down.

"Hmm, you already know the answer to that. A good question would be what are you going to do when 'he' finds you." He turned her to look at him.

Lucy looked at him with a questioning look in her eyes. "Who is 'he'?"

Natsu laughed at her. His laugh slowly became darker and darker until he transformed into a completely different person. "You couldn't have forgotten me! I own you and I'm not letting you go with a customer. He only wants your body, Lucy. Can't you tell?"

The man's hands wrapped around Lucy's throat slowly killing her. Just as her vision was beginning to darken completely, her eyes shot open.

Stand above her was a worried Natsu. She jumped out of her bed and rammed into him. Sobs wracked her body and Natsu let her cry. He wrapped his arms around her stroking her hair until she calmed down.

When she was able to speak again she looked up at Natsu. "I remembered something important. He's coming for me, Natsu. I've been gone a day and a half and he's looking for me!"

Natsu sat down with her on the bed. "Who is 'he', Lucy?"

She gulped and looked down at the floor. "S-Sting Eucliffe."

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Don't worry ya'll I also Love Sting and in future chapters, you will see his importance. Thank you all so very much for all the reviews. You have no idea how much I geeked out over these.

In the words of Toby Turner,"I nerded all over the floor, it was messy." That's how I felt with every single review. And to **Vince Mitsuhiro **Thank you so much for the complement! I'm sorry if this chapter sucked TT_TT

I love you all and please Review!


	4. Nightmares That Come to Life

_My fucking God, I'm so sorry. I know I said Sunday but I was at my Grandma's all weekend and didn't get back home until Sunday night. It was sudden for me too. I had zero wifi at her house and when I did get home, I lost half the chapter. This chapters kind of short cause I want the next part in the next chapter._

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Lucy sank down to her knees, sobbing after the name uttered from her mouth. Natsu held on to her, slowly lowering her to the ground. He sat next to her and let her head fall in his lap.

He held her in his arms until her sobs calmed to hiccups. He continued to hug her holding her tight promising to never let her go.

He smoothed her hair and rubbed her back.

Just as her sobs became slight hiccups, the door bell rang. Lucy shot up and moved as far away as she could get from any entrances to his room.

"Come this way." He said motioning for her to follow him to his closet. "Stay here and don't move till I come back out." He closed the door curtly behind him.

Lucy heard his heavy footfalls fade into the distance. She laid her head on her knees trying to keep from crying any more.

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Natsu exited his room, almost sprinting to the door. He opened it swiftly ready to face whoever was there.

His mouth fell open when he saw who was at his door. "Wha-… How… Why are you h-here?" He stuttered

Standing at his door looking pissed as hell was Erza and Gray. He opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by a punch to the face. Natsu fell to the ground cupping his chin. "What the hell was that for?" He shouted.

Erza stepped forward to him. "That's for not telling us Lucy was back." Erza's eyes started to fill with tears that threatened to spill over. "Where is she?" She asked in her usual demanding tone.

"I'm right here."

Everyone turned to look at Lucy who had appeared in the hallway. The tears in Erza's actually fell over as she and Gray rushed to Lucy's side.

They embraced her in a tight hug. It seemed as though the hug would never end. They rocked back and forth until Gray let her go feeling her go abruptly stiff in their arms.

"Let me go." Lucy mumbled to them in hopes that they would hear her.

"What was that, Lucy?" Gray asked her.

"Let me go!" She shouted shoving her way out of their arms. "You can't just hug me like everything's alright 'because it's not!" Her hands were balled in fist shaking feverously.

"Lucy…" Gray said softly trying to rein her back in.

Erza's loving expression quickly turned to anger. Gray and Natsu held their breath dreading what she would do next. She kept clutching and releasing her hand until her face completely darkened.

Her palm flared open and shot through the air until it connected with Lucy's cheek. Everyone stared in shock as the sound of the slap resonated throughout the hallway.

Lucy cheek turned bright red and tears stung her eyes. She drew in a sharp breath ready to yell at her but her voice was caught in her throat between the tears and the anger.

She cleared her throat trying to make sure it would come out clear. Her eyes focused on the floor to avoid a gaze that would send her bawling.

Before she actually had the chance to speak, Erza's voice boomed through the house. "Lucy Heartfilia, do you know how worried you had us all? We searched for weeks trying to find you. Natsu spent far longer, really he never gave up. Each week he would leave for a different town trying to find you."

Lucy looked up to Erza's angry face scared. Lucy's face slowly started to turn the same color as her scarlet hair. A fat tear fell from Lucy's eyes soon another followed suit. Before she knew it, she was full out crying again.

Erza looked away from Lucy. "It was scary not having you around town." She whispered. "In three years Gray stopped stripping, Natsu now owns his own business, and everyone else…" She stared at Lucy again. "You missed so much..."

"I'm sorry." Lucy said as clear as she could.

Erza took this as the chance to wrap her arms around Lucy's frame. Lucy stiffened again but relaxed shortly after. She leaned into Erza's chest and let her tears soak through her shirt.

When she released her Gray walked over to her and patted her hard on the back. "Good to have you back, Lucy"

Lucy gave a weak smile to the two. "It's good to be back but…" She punched Gray on the arm. "Don't ever hug me again without my permission."

Gray winced and rubbed his arm up and down. "Did you get stronger over the years?" He asked her.

Lucy smiled and walked over to Natsu. "Hmm, who knows?"

Natsu threw his arms over Lucy's shoulders and rested his head on her. He stared at Erza and Gray in envy. "You guys are lucky, Lucy likes you better." He whined. "She hates it when I touch her, see?"

Just as he pointed it out, Lucy's frame went stiff and she stood up straight as a stick. "Please get off me." She said her voice just above a whisper.

Natsu, knowing not to test her, let her go without objecting. "See, she hates me." He pouted at the thought.

Lucy sighed and turned to face Natsu. "I don't hate you. If I did, I wouldn't be able to stay here for the week. I just don't like being hugged."

Natsu sighed deciding to let the matter go. "Are you guys going to stay or is seeing Lucy alive good enough for you?" He asked the two.

"Flame brain, don't even think that you can keep Lucy to yourself. Of course we want to talk with her. This is the first time we've seen her in three fucking years." Gray spoke hastily to him.

"Yeah Natsu, I want to know how much I missed." Lucy said looking up to Natsu.

Natsu sighed and shook his head splaying his hair across his face. "Fine, follow me then." He led them to the living room. They all sat down on the leather sofas. Gray and Erza separate chairs but Natsu and Lucy sitting together.

Erza stared at the two trying to figure out what was different about them. "Where were you?" She asked throwing out the simplest question to her.

Lucy blushed and muttered something. Erza frowned at her getting slightly agitated with her. "What was that, Lucy? You know I hate the whole muttering thing."

Lucy cleared her throat and looked up to Erza. "I moved around a lot but eventually stayed within Bosco [1]."

Gray gaped at her an extremely questioning look on his face. "Bosco? You lived in Bosco! What the hell were you doing there?" He almost screamed at her.

"I was looking for someone."

"Who the hell do you know that lives in Bosco?" Erza questioned.

Lucy looked away angrily. "An old friend, she doesn't really matter now. We had a plan that failed. She got away and I was left in Bosco."

Natsu stared at her. "Why did you stay if you knew she was gone?" He asked her, he face laced with hurt.

"I had a boyfriend." She whispered.

"Sting." Natsu concluded not even having to ask. "Why would you date him?"

Lucy put her face in her hands trying to hold back any emotion ready to show itself. "It was complicated, but at first he was nice."

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**[1] Bosco is known in Fairy Tail from the first couple of eps. Bora says there is human trafficking there so I thought "Sex slaves, perfect!" It's really a country so if I said it was a country and Island that's cause it's both true... more or less**

**Review or not... I've been unfaithful**


	5. Her Time (Part I)

_I'm back! I have a brief idea of what I want next so bear with me. Love Eieriann_

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_Flash Back_

Lucy smiled at her reflection taking in the new look of her uniform. Even after working here for two weeks, it never ceased to amaze her how cute the uniform made her look. The sleeveless light pink dress stopped just above her knees and she wore half an apron in the front to carry everything she would need.

She turned around quickly letting the edges of her uniform flare up around her. She threw her hands over her head enjoying the way it clung to her upper body in just the right ways.

"Having fun?" A voice asked from the doorway.

Lucy she stopped mid-spin facing the voice. Her arms shot down to her sides and her face warming slightly in embarrassment. Her brows furrowed in annoyance and she shot her co-worker a cold but still slightly embarrassed glare. "Shut up Rogue, you're just jealous because I look amazingly awesome and you look… ugh." She turned facing the mirror again to pull her hair into a braided bun.

He smiled and his eyes filled with amusement . "Yeah, right! We both know the majority of the costumers like me more than you."

"What did you even come here for? I'm technically still on my lunch break."

"The lunch rush started earlier today and since we're the only ones working , we'll have to work twice as hard. "

Lucy sighed and picked up her notepad following Rogue out of the locker room. She instantly saw how crowded it was and started to mentally prepare herself for dealing with lovey-dovey couples.

"Take your regular area and work as efficiently as you can."

"Got it!" She walked quickly to her part of the café.

* * *

The day flew by quickly and before she knew it, the rush was practically over minus the few couples left in the cafe. Lucy quickly tended to them being as nice as could be, she wasn't even that tired yet.

She was crouched beside the display rearranging the cakes when the front bell rang. Without looking up she welcomed the customer and asked how many in their party. She glanced up to make sure she was actually paying attention to them.

Who she saw shocked her completely. He was young, not that most people who came here weren't but he looked her age. So young- and gorgeous, too. His hair was a shining gold that could put the sun out of business and his eyes were an intense blue-grey.

Already plastered on his amazing face was a cocky smirk. She suspected it was because she was caught staring. Blushing she stood up smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress.

"H-How many in your party?" she asked again trying to regain her voice.

Still smirking he lifted an eyebrow as if sizing her up. "Just me, unless you'd like to join me."

"Maybe next time. Please follow me this way." She smiled and led him to a table with a good view out the window. She handed him the menu and pulled out her notebook. "My name is Lucy and I'll be your waitress for the day. What would you like?"

"Some black tea… and you." He said focusing on her.

"I'm not for sale but we do have an abundance of black tea. I'll be right back." She inclined her head towards him before disappearing into the kitchen to make the tea.

As she entered the kitchen, she noticed Rogue messing around on his phone. "How come you aren't out there doing whatever it is you do around here.?" She asked as she walked to the shelf where the jars of tea leaves were stocked. "I'm on my break right now. Besides, there aren't too many people, you can handle them on your own."

"I know that, but it's weird being the only one on the floor." Just her luck, the tea she needed was at the very top. She glanced around for a step to use but only saw the stool Rogue was sitting on. "Rogue, lend me that stool for a bit."

"No, I'm using it right now. Wait your turn." He replied without looking up from his phone.

"Come on, I can't reach the top shelf all by myself. Just for a few seconds please."

"Not gonna happen." He stuck his tongue out at her

Lucy sighed knowing she had to start the tea soon or the customer would get impatient. She stormed over to the stove to put on a pot of water. She was standing there close to 3 minutes when Rogue stood and walked to the door.

"Never mind, you can have it. I'm going to the store, don't set the place on fire."

She moved over to where his stool was and pulled it towards the shelf with her tea. "Whatever, pick me up some pudding please." She perched herself precariously onto the stool and easily grabbed the tea. As she moved to get down, her elbow knocked into the shelf shoving her off the stool.

Any other day, she would have lived with only a skinned knee at most. Of course on those days, she would be wearing her favorite pair of flats. Today was not one of those days. Today, she decided to wear that new pair of heels she just bought. The heels that just so happened to be five inches.

Her arms flailed around her trying to find something to grasp onto, but it was too late. As she landed, her ankle gave way under the shock of pressure and the jar flew out of her hands and smashed on the floor a few feet away from her.

She cried out in pain. She instantly realized that her ankle wasn't going to allow her stand up. She bit her lip to keep her from crying. She smacked her cheeks a couple of times to get the blood flowing there again.

After getting as calm as she figured her mind would let her get, she fished her phone out of her apron and started searching through the contacts. Having found the one she was looking for, she pressed the phone to her ear. It rang a couple of times before a voice answered.

"Look Lucy, I know I'm irresistible but-"

Lucy immediately cut him off."Shut up, Rogue. How far are you from the café?"

"I'm just leaving the store. What's wrong with your voice?"

"I think I sprained my ankle and I kind of really need some help right now. You know, typical things that can make your voice sound weird." She spat angry sarcasm at him with every word.

"Jesus, Lucy. Are you okay?" He asked ignoring her temper.

Her laugh was pained and mirthless. "Yeah, no. It hurts like a fucking bitch and I can't even move from where I am."

"Don't worry, I'll be back in ten minutes, tops. I have a friend who was supposed to meet me at the café soon, I'll call and ask him to help you. That cool with you?"

"I could care less as long as I can get into a chair and get off my foot."

"Alright, hang in there, I'll try and get back as soon as I can. Bye."

"Thanks, bye."

* * *

Not even half a minute later was someone rushing through the kitchen over to where she was. She looked up to see who here savior would be. It wasn't until she saw his face that she knew she was secretly hoping it was him.

Standing above her was the blond haired god that indirectly got her into this predicament. She didn't know whether to hate him or be extremely thankful. She decided to go with the latter since he didn't exactly have to help her.

"Damn, Rogue wasn't kidding when he said you sounded bad, you look bad, real bad. No offense." He gave her a weak smile.

She sighed and raked her hands through her hair in anxiety. "Yeah, none taken. Can you just help me up into a chair or something? I really don't think putting this much pressure on my foot is good for it or anything."

He stooped down to where she fell and put an arm under her legs and the other on her back and began to life her. Lucy's face twisted in discomfort as he carried her out the kitchen and to an empty table. Her face returned to its slightly less pained expression when he set her down. He pulled up another chair and had her rest her ankle on it.

Lucy took a few calming breaths gave a smile that was more like a grimace. "T-Thanks for helping me."

"I've seen my fair share of ankle injuries, do you mind if I take a look?"

Lucy pressed her lips together as she wondered briefly if she could handle the pain. "Yeah, go ahead."

He knelt to the ground beside her feet and slowly moved his hands to her ankle. He smoothly took off her heel almost not even touching her at all. He cupped her foot in his hand and gently moved it to the left. He hadn't moved it much when Lucy cried out. "Sorry about that, just trying to see how bad it is." He twisted again the other way and she cried out again. "Yeah, I think it might be worse that it looks. I think we should ice it."

"There's ice in the freezer across from the stove and there should be little baggies in the drawers next to the refrigerator, too."

"Okay, I'll be right back." He left for the kitchen and Lucy was left sitting there thinking about how she was going to work after this. She was on her feet pretty much all day and if she couldn't work she couldn't pay her rent and if she couldn't do that… Who knows where she'd go!

Her face was considerably paler when he got back with the bag of ice. He had wrapped a towel around it and gently placed it on her swelling ankle. "Thanks again, it already feels better." She gave a fuller smile that was actually happy and not just a pained cringe. "I don't think I caught your name."

He smirked playfully at her and seemed to think about what he was going to say before opening his mouth. "I'm St-"

Just then there was a slam from the kitchen and Rogue came bursting through the doors leading to the front of the café. "Lucy! Are you okay?"

Lucy smiled at the sight of Rogue. "Yeah, he helped me." She gestured toward him.

Rouge's face melted into a relaxed grin. "Great, good thing I got my connections, right."

Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled. "Whatever Rogue, you have nothing on me." She tuned out Rogue's protest and turned back to the blond god. "Sorry, I still didn't catch your name."

"I'm Sting Eucliffe."

Lucy's face changed as she thought of where she had heard the name before. She decided it must just sound like a name she knew. "Nice to meet you, I'm Lucy, although you probably already knew that… Anyways thank you so much for today." She gave him a full blown Lucy Heartfilia smile.

Turning back to Rogue who was looking angry at being ignored by the both of them. "Can you go grab the first-aid kit, please." He grumbled as he went off to find the blasted thing. "Sorry, that you never got your tea. I'll have Rogue make it and you can get it for free, too."

He gave a small smile. "Don't worry about it, what I would be concerned about is that there are still a couple of people eating. What are you going to do about that?"

Her mouth dropped open showing she hadn't thought about the remaining customers at all. "Oh no! You're right, I completely forgot." She groaned in aggravation as she angrily ran her hands through her hair. She sighed in frustration and put her head in her hands just as Rogue returned with the first-aid kit.

As if reading her anger he said, "Sting, I'll leave this to you, I'll just deal with the remaining customers." He left to tend to the neglected couples.

Turning back to Sting she smiled. "That's one less thing to worry about. I think we should have everything needed in there, we don't really have a use for it."

"So are you guys going to close the café after they all leave?" He opened the kit and started setting things out on the table.

"I guess, I doubt Rogue'll want serve more people by himself. I don't know if you've noticed but he's extremely lazy."

"It's a wonder he even got a job here." He started to unwrap the gauze and moved her foot to make wrapping it easier. "So what brought you down to Bosco?"

She looked puzzled by his question and squinted her eyes at him. "What makes you think I'm not from here?"

"Well for one thing you're really pale." **[1]**

She blushed glancing at her arms. "Oh yeah… I'm on vacation"

He looked up at her confused. "Then why are you working in a café?"

"I ran out of money."

"Okay, so are you from the mainland or another island?"

"I'm from the mainland, Fiore to be exact."

He grinned as he clipped together the gauze and set her foot back on the chair. "Oh so you're not that far from home then."

She frowned at the thought. "Yeah, home…" She whispered to herself. Not wanting to be depressing she smiled again. "I like it much better here, there's so much more sun and tons of good looking people."

"Yeah, if only their personalities matched most of their looks, then this place would be a paradise."

"I've yet to meet a person as rude as Rogue, I really hope he's as bad as they get." She smiled mischievously.

Showing up behind her, Rogue flicked the back of her head. "I heard that! Trust me, there are people worse than me on this island. Take Sting for instance, he's a total jackass. Ever wonder why he knows how to deal with sprains so well? It's because he always finds weird positions to-" There was a loud smack as Sting threw the first-aid hit at Rogue's head leaving him writhing in agony on the ground.

Lucy turned abruptly in her seat to look at him. "Are you okay?" She asked between the giggles she tried to hold back. Doing her best to put on a disapproving look she glared at Sting. "Why would you throw that at him? You could've seriously hurt him!"

Showing no remorse for what he had done, he smirked and scoffed. "How else is he going to learn to keep his big mouth shut."

Lucy's frown began to waver and she broke out into her radiant smile. "Honestly though, you better pray you didn't hurt him too bad. We can't afford to injure anymore employees."

"He'll be fine, it's not first time someone's thrown something at him."

Looking at the clock on her phone she frowned. "Ah, it's already five o'clock. I need to get back home soon." Lucy stood carefully testing her weight on her foot. Deeming it safe enough she stumbled over to where Rogue lay almost motionless. "Rogue, get up. I have to go home." She crouched and roughly poked his side.

He groaned in response and turned on his back. "You're so mean, first you let that asshat throw a box at my head and you just laugh along with him. Some people have no feelings in their hearts." He turned away from her pretending to sulk.

"I asked if you were okay but you were too busy being a bitch to reply! NOW GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP AND TAKE ME HOME OR I'LL BE LATE!" Her face was tinted pink in her rage.

Rogue sat up faster than a prairie dog when it hears danger.**[2] **"Okay okay, no need to bush a cap, I'll take you back." He pushed himself up and began to stretch before going through the doors to check that everything was locked.

"Why are you in such a hurry to get home? It's only four forty-two." Asked Sting once Rogue went to check the kitchen doors.

Frowning Lucy looked at the time. "I have a lot to do today and don't have time to stay here any longer."

"What, going to miss the new episode of your favorite drama if you're not home in time?" He asked smirking down at her again.

"I guess you could say that…" She smiled coldly. "Anyways, it was nice meeting you, Sting. I hope we can meet again." As she walked through the kitchen doors where Rogue was waiting impatiently she threw a soft glance over her shoulder and smiled.

* * *

**[1] I miss read somewhere and thought that Bosco was an Island. Too late to change.**

**[2] It's a saying I probably picked up off SpongeBob**

**Please point out the mistakes cause as much as I've read through this there are still plenty of mistakes. I'm sorry once again for being so late and all but I can't help my writers block as much as I try. I understand if you've lost interest, I would've done the same. Please review and feel free to complain I will take them all with honor (like Prince Zuko should've)**

**Love,**

**Eieriann**

**P.S. Sorry, I actually updated this yesterday but I guess since I choose update chapter it didn't show :P**


	6. Her Time (Part II)

8,090 words. Where is your god now? I got this entire thing planned out and I'm in the mood for some typing. Ignore all mistakes.

Love yall and review

* * *

In the week following Lucy's sprained ankle all of the time she had concluded that it would only be a few more days until she could work freely again. According to Google it wasn't as bad a sprain as it felt and was of the relatively normal standards. But then again, according to Google she had osteoporosis

The past week Lucy spent hours on end researching on her computer hoping to be even the tiniest smidgen closer to her goal but like many of the days prior to her sprain, everything she did seemed in vain.

Lucy closed her computer and limped over to her bed sighing. "I've really got to stop doing that; I need to hold onto whatever joy I have left."**[1] **She slid onto her bed and glanced at the bedside alarm clock before deciding it was too late to be awake. Before she could even think about anything she was asleep and her dreams were attacked by colorful shapes blurring in and out of focus.

They bounced in an out of her frame of vision and seemed to blend together before separating and blending again with the other colors taunting her. She reached her hand out to grasp a purple one that seemed to swallow up the other colors until finally it was the only on remaining. Slowly her vision burned with the rapidly darkening purple until finally it was black as a moonless night. When it reached black, her eyes opened.

Glancing at the clock Lucy saw that it was already creeping towards eight o'clock. She shuffled over to her computer and checked her e-mails hoping for news, anything to prove tell her she came to Bosco with the right assumptions.

Nothing. Just like the days previous.

Lucy started towards the bathroom to begin her morning routine. In an hour she was done and glowing with health but feeling more worried than before. She turned on the television and changed it to the news. She'd always watch, waiting for the terrible news that would allow her to leave this dreadful island.

Morbid anticipation wasted. The face didn't show.

* * *

It was around noon before anything exciting happened. Lucy was messing with her old typewriter when her computer pinged. It took her a moment to realize what that noise meant to her since she hadn't heard it in all the time she'd been traveling. Once the significance of the note reached her conscious, she threw down her screwdriver and flashlight and dashed over to the device.

All sorts of things were flying through her head. _Did they find me? Does someone have information? Is this a clue? Am I finally a step closer? Fuck, did they find me?! _She practically threw her chair out of the way and scanned the email looking for key words. Finally realizing she wasn't processing a single thing she sat down and read the entire note again.

It read as follows:

Dear Ms. Heartfilia;

Having received your e-mail questioning the whereabouts of your acquaintance, Blair Ponti, formerly employed at our main branch in Elon, Bosco. We regret to inform you that as previously stated, Ms. Ponti is no longer employed with our company.

Due to our privacy act enlisted on all employees and former employees, we are not allowed to disclose any more information than what we have already revealed.

Sincerely,

Charles Gledhill **[2]**

Humanities and Communication Representative

Bosco Escort Enterprise

Lucy stood to her feet, threw her hands in her hair, and ground her teeth. "You have got to be kidding me!" she shouted in rage. After the five weeks she's spent here, she practically has no information on Blair. She paced around the room a couple of times before sitting down trying to control her rage at the world.

"Okay Lucy, calm down. At least now you know she doesn't work at that god forsaken company anymore." She moved over to her bed and laid down with her arm over her eyes. "This is too stressful." _One trail closed, how many more are left?_

* * *

The following day Lucy deemed her ankle healed and decided it would be best if she went to work and actually interacted with people. She called Rogue to pick her up and they rode to work together in a light silence.

Entering through the employee entrance gave Lucy a start since there was one more person clocking in than usual. There standing in front of her was Sting in uniform, looking ready to work.

"Oh sorry, bro. I forgot to tell you. Lucy is working again from today on so you don't need to come in anymore." Rogue walked pass him slapping him on the back and clocking in using what seemed like only movement. **[3]**

"You're a dick, you know that? I fucking woke up half an hour earlier today just to get here on time, why _the fuck_ would you wait until I'm actually at work, clocking in, and mentally preparing myself to help _disgustingly_ lovey dovey couples before you say anything about not coming in." Sting snarled at Rogue accenting the anger in his voice.

"I already said sorry, just accept it and get on with your life. You can still work here if you want, you know. Not like the boss is going to stop you or anything, he's hardly ever here." Rogue covered his mouth to keep from laughing at Sting's breakdown.

Lucy faintly smiled at Sting. "Sorry, Sting for having you work my shifts this past week."

"It's all good Lucy, I don't blame you_, _I blame Rogue.."

"Would you look at the time!" Rogue exclaimed glancing at his wrist even though it didn't have a watch. "It's almost time to open shop. Sorry, no time to chat, Sting. You can stay or go, just make up your mind before we open." Rogue rushed off into the kitchens to set up the kettles and other supplies.

"Are you going to stay today?" Lucy asked, mildly curious.

Sting tapped his chin in thought. "Ugh, fine. Besides, it's another source of income."

They walked into the kitchen together ready for a new day of serving people and making money.

* * *

Lucy developed a mundane routine over the next three weeks: wake up, listen to news, go to work, chat with Rogue and Sting, come home, listen to the news, sleep. Everything in Lucy's life seemed so predictable, so scheduled that before she knew it she was looking for a change. As if the heavens had opened up and decided to answer her one subconscious prayer her life was morphing.

It was a Friday night and Lucy ended up getting the evening shift with Sting and a few part timing teens. It was just Sting and Lucy left closing up since they told the teens to get home before their parents could worry too much.

Lucy and Sting were putting the chairs over the tables and chatting idly about random stuff.

"Hey Lucy, what are you doing after work?" Sting asked during one of the rare pauses in their conversation.

"Why, what's up?"

"Do you want to go for some coffee or whatever makes sense to drink in the evening time."

Lucy's thoughts briefly flew to her research and how missing one night wouldn't be that bad. "Yeah, I guess coffee's good."

"Great, how about Starbucks, my treat?"

After a moment of hesitation she smiled and answered. "Yeah, Starbucks is great."

* * *

They entered the soothingly quiet café and went for the register to order their drinks. "Umm, I'll have a Caffe Misto** [4]** and some pumpkin bread." Lucy said after briefly glancing at the menu.

"And just a Caramel Caffé Americano for me."

They took their seats in table with a view of the window. They talked and laughed about everything cliché until their drinks were ready.

"Have you ever been here before?" Sting asked Lucy after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Technically no, but I've received coffee from here before. Well not _here_ here, but back in Fiore. Do you come here often?" They laughed briefly at how corny that sounded before he answered.

"Almost every night that I have to work. So basically every night."

"How are you still moving! I don't think I could stay up all night, then go be a server in a café. There aren't nearly enough hours in the day."

"Well, working at the café has a couple of perks to it."

"Oh yeah, like what, getting to take home sweets after your shift is done? Or is it all the hot single girls that come by for 'girl bonding time' with their friends?" Lucy gave him a knowing smirk.

"Haha, no. I'm not all that into the single girls that come by. I'm more into the extra money, getting to beat up Rogue every so often, and you work there. It's pretty much a place filled with happiness… minus the kids screaming for cake and the ever so rare break up scene." They laughed at the memory of the terrible scene that had been made a few days ago ending in a sticky floor, three broken glasses and a lifetime banning for those involved.

"I do enjoy making people's days better and it is slightly amusing watching you beat on Rogue when he's being a jerk."

"Only slightly amusing?" He smirked at her.

"Okay, very amusing."

They laughed and talked for another hour before Sting exclaimed that he had to get to his night job. He dropped her off at her apartment before speeding off into the night.

* * *

They continued the routine of going out for coffee a couple of times during the week until Sting finally decided to meet with her on one of their mutual days off.

They were setting the chairs on the tables again talking about some of their common interest, including a family sitcom they had both recently started watching. Eventually, Sting changed the topic during a break in their conversation.

"Hey Lucy, are you free this Saturday?"

"Hmm, why?" She eyed him somewhat suspiciously.

"Rogue, a couple other friends and I were planning on going out drinking to celebrate Lector, one of our friends, getting a promotion. I thought it would be better than staying holed up in your apartment all weekend."

"I don't stay in my apartment all weekend, you know." Lucy said defensively

"Leaving to get the mail, or go food shopping doesn't count." He said in smug retaliation.

"Ok, whatever. I'm pretty sure it counts."

"It doesn't. So are you going to come or not?"

Lucy pondered the pros and cons of going out on a Saturday For one thing, she'd be out of the house and slightly less bound to the life of another. She'd get to hang out with Sting who, despite her best efforts, was starting to grow on her. This could count towards her human interaction points, not that she was actually keeping track… But there was still the chance that she could miss an important phone call. She'd have to make up the time loss spent partying, not that'd she'd find anything new in her research.

With there being more pros than cons Lucy agreed to go drinking with him and his friends the next day. They exchanged numbers so he could tell her where to be and when to get there.

* * *

The next afternoon Lucy received a text from Sting telling her that they wouldn't be going out until seven that evening and they'd be meeting at the club _**Bayside.**_ With it only being two thirty, she didn't need to get dressed for at least another three hours.

The time between then and the time she planned on using to get dressed was spent reading articles online over the underground escort industry. The articles were filled yet again the useless information she already knew. Everything she had already read at least three times before. Sighing she pushed her chair back on its hind legs and tilted her head back looking up at the ceiling fan. After staring for a few minutes, she sat forward into the proper chair sitting position huffing out in frustration.

Slowly she scrolled through the familiar articles again. Opening up another tab, she goes to the find-a-person website that has recently become one of the most visited sites on her computer.

No new messages. Again.

Lucy get up from her computer and walks to the kitchen looking for something quick and edible. Finding a box of Pop Tarts in her cabinet, she lays down on her bed with the packet open slowly nibbling on the snack.

She turns on the T.V. and changes it to a popular sitcom for a change. The little jokes in it manage to make her chuckle and smile frequently. Lucy rubs her forehead in exhaustion as if trying to rid it of the nonexistent worry wrinkles.

Before she knew it her eyelids were getting heavy and her eyes were stinging with the strain of keeping them open. She starts to blink trying to stay awake even though she knows she should just let herself fall asleep. Her eyes close.

_Fairy! Where are you going/ _ _hikari zenbu atsumete/ kimi no ashita terasu yo! _**[5] **Lucy's eyes shot open, she dashed over to her desk where she had left her phone. She knew that ringtone, she did not hesitate as she answered the call and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hello Lucy, how are you?" A deep voice greeted

"Where's Blair?" Lucy whispers trying to contain the fear and worry in her voice.

"Straight to the point aren't we."

"Answer me, where is Blair!"

"You would do well to remember I do not approve of you raising your voice at me."

"Please, tell me if she is okay." She tries to keep her voice level just barely succeeding

"Oh, Blair is fine. She's quite the sharp little thing, but it makes sense since she was your friend. It's hard to keep tabs on her when she's glancing over her shoulder, staring down dark alleyways and checking the passengers of every goddamn car that passes the streets she roams. _She's fucking paranoid!_" !" His voice filled with rage and darkened the more he talked about Blair's cautious nature.

"She has a good reason to be with creeps like you stalking her. She's smarter than her looks let on. Do you know where she is?"

"I always know where she is. I have to or else you won't play this fun game." Lucy could hear the man smirking at her.

"Will you tell me where she is. I just want her back…"

"No."

"I… Please I ju-"

"But," he interrupted, "I will give you a hint as to who she's working for…"

"Please, I have to know."

"My sources tell me you've already been in contact with BEE so you are aware of the disgusting line of work she's in, no?"

"Yes… I know." Lucy looked away as her voice filled with shame and sadness

"Now, now, Lucy, cheer up. It's not your fault your friend became a prostitute."

"Don't… Don't call her that!"

"What should I call her? A whore, cunt, bitch? Take your pick, there are only so many options."

"Never mind. The person I'm looking for, who is it."

"_He _is a slippery fellow. Took us close to two weeks to even get his identity and another to find his residence. He's young, only twenty-three. He's smooth and cunning like a fox. He could talk his way out of a high security prison cell. He's the kind of guy that just strikes you as arrogant then sweet after you 'get to know him a little better.', but he eventually pulls you into his dark line of work claiming he loves you. Every girl that works for him thinks that he's their boyfriend. If you don't watch out, you'll fall into his trap like every other girl."

Lucy took a few seconds to absorb everything she was told about the man who has Blair trying to put it together into what kind of person he would be if she met him. Taking a steadying breath Lucy gathered up the remaining of her courage before speaking again. "The first time we spoke, you never told me your name or why you have Blair's number."

"Ah, didn't I tell you about the phone incident?"

"No, you didn't."

"Blair used to work for me. Since our business is _professional_ we allow our employees to resign when they want to with no strings attached. Of course they had to leave behind _all _company property. This phone was one from our company."

"So you work for BEE… Who are you?"

"I am the intelligence of BEE, I am the brain that moves the limbs, I direct them, tell them what I want, and I _always_ get what I want. You can call me Mr. R."

"Mr. R., what's your full name? It's not fair that you know mine and I don't know yours."

"Our time is up for now but I suspect we'll be talking again _very soon_. Remember Lucy, I am _not_ the bad guy."

"W-wait!" She exclaimed in desperation.

The line went dead. Lucy instantly tried to call the number back but it didn't even go to voicemail. Frustrated she threw her phone onto her bed where it bounced off and onto the floor.

She stood there full of rage, glaring at the alarm clock beside her bed. She noticed they had talked for close to an hour. Had it really taken that long just to get that information?

She rushed to her computer and started typing out what she learned. His age, his personality, Mr. R. and that as of three o'clock that evening, Blair was safe.

* * *

After a couple minutes consideration, Lucy decided to still go out drinking with Sting and Rogue. She arrived at _**Bayside**_ without any further incidents, phone calls, or e-mails. Putting on her happy face she walked into the bar and immediately saw Rogue at the bar ordering drinks.

She walked up beside him smiling. "Hey, Rogue!"

"Lucy, you made it! Perfect timing, help me carry these back to the table. I ordered you a beer, you good with that?" He handed her three of the seven pints of beer.

"And, we're back!" There were five people squeezed into a large booth and a guy setting in a chair on the end. They were laughing and smiling at something that had been said. Lucy and Rogue set the drinks down on the table before sitting down themselves. Lucy squeezed into the booth next to Sting and Rogue sat in the chair on the other end of the booth.**  
**

Sting smiled and lightly put his arm around Lucy's shoulders. He cleared his voice to get everyone's attention. "Okay, okay, introductions! Everyone, this is Lucy." Lucy gave a small smile and wave slightly blushing at all the eyes on her. "And Lucy, this is Minerva, Lector over on the end there, Frosch, Yukino, and Rufus." He pointed everyone out clockwise from where he was sitting leaving out Rogue since they worked together.

"Nice to meet everyone." Lucy said cheerfully.

Yukino reached across the table and grabbed Lucy's hands excitedly and smiled. "Sting, you didn't tell us how cute Lucy was. You left out far too many details! Lucy, you are gorgeous."

Lucy blushed at the unexpected compliment. "Thank you, but I think you are much cuter than me." Lucy smiled at Yukino.

Frosch groaned and Yukino glared at him. "Yeah, Yukino _looks _cute but after a while, it's just annoying. Plus she's too loud." Yukino slowly removed her hands from Lucy's and punched Frosch on the arm.

"Frosch, you jerk!"

"Ow, ow, ow! And she's really violent too." Everyone laughed except Yukino who was blushing in anger and embarrassment.

Rogue raised his glass and cleared his throat. "I'd like to propose a toast to our friend, Lector. You've been promoted from Assistant Coordinator to Administrative Coordinator at Conry Entertainment Incorporation, congratulations. To Lector!" They all echoed Rogue and raised their glasses.

Lucy took a small sip of her drink, she had never been that big on drinking, she was taught that it wasn't safe. After a few small sips, Minerva seemed to notice how much beer she still had left.

"Whoa, Lucy, you've hardly touched your drink. What, do you not like it?"

Lucy blushed as the heads at the table turned towards her. "Ah, no, it's really good and all. I'm just not really big on alcohol."

Minerva smirked at the opportunity she had basically been presented on a silver platter. "Oh? Are you a light weight? It's okay, we've all been there before, though I've never met a twenty year old girl who couldn't handle her alcohol."

"It's not like I can't handle it, I just don't want to drink too much."

"Sure you can. Down the rest of your drink and I'll be the judge of whether or not you can drink." Minerva raised her eyebrows in a challenging smirk.

"I'd rather not destroy my liver, I kind of need it to live." She smiled politely at Minerva although she was tugging on her last nerve.

"Oh, I get it, you want to be _healthy_ I can assure that one night of drinking isn't going to hurt you. Unless the real reason you won't drink is because you're _scared?_ Then I guess there's no solving that." Minerva shrugged and took a large gulp out of her second pint glancing at Lucy from the corner of her eye.

Determined to prove her wrong, Lucy put the pint to her lips and started to chug it ungracefully. She slammed the empty cup down on table somewhat proud of herself. They cheered for her bravery and Lucy put on a smug smile. "Would you look at that, I'm still sober."

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Rufus said from across from her.

"Three." She said confidently.

"Correct, what's the name of the bar we're in?" He asked her again.

"_**Bayside.**_" she answered again.

"Last question, what is your name?"

"Oh no, is that a trick question? I'm going to have to go with Lucy Heartfilia."

"Bingo, we have a completely sober girl here!"

"Thank you, thank you." Lucy pretended to bow with mock flourish. "Okay, I'm getting more drinks, anyone want something?"

"A strawberry daiquiri for me!" Yukino said

"More beer." Rufus said.

"I second that." Said Lector.

"Bull frog"

"An Adios Motherfucker."

"White Russian."

Sting stood up alongside Lucy. "I'll help you carry the drinks back."

Lucy smiled up at him as they walked to the bartender. "Great, I'm pretty sure I would have dropped them all if I tried that on my own."

They reached the bar and gained the bartender's attention. "Three pitchers of beer, a Strawberry Daiquiri, Bull Frog, White Russian, and an Adios Motherfucker. What do you want, Lucy?"

"A Lost Cherry, please."

"Alright, I have ya'll those drinks in a hot minute." The bartender said in his thick southern drawl.

Lucy put her palms on the flat surface of the bar. "My god, your accent is amazing. Where are you from?"

"Hmm, me? I'm from a little town called Nsama over in Desierto. It's really small, I think the population when I left was close to two hundred." He looked thoughtfully while shaking a drink.

"Whoa, you're all the way from Desierto? That's close to a thousand miles!"

"Nsama… Isn't that right between Mnxe and Madibe?" inquired Sting while Lucy stared as the bartender stirred some drinks.

"Yeah, some people just call Nsama the suburbs of Madibe and the country outside of Mnxe. Which I always thought was weird seeing as Nsama was pretty much just some families living outside of the city limits."

"Really, some friends of mine and I went to Mnxe then Madibe, we passed through Nsama in less than five minutes. I guess it really is small."

"Yeah, the kind of town where everyone knows each other, but it's full of love, that's probably the only reason people don't leave. Here you go, your drink are ready. That'll be thirty-one forty"

"Sweet, alcohol! Nice talking to you Mr. Bartender." Lucy exclaimed excitedly as she paid for the bill.

Lucy grabbed two of the pitchers of beer, her drink, Yukino's and Rogue's drink before hurrying back to the table before she had the chance to spill or drop anything.

"Drinks for all, grab yours and leave the rest alone!" She carefully set the drinks down and moved aside so Sting could do the same.

She let Sting slide in first next to Minerva then slid in next to him. She grabbed her drink and took a timid sip since this was the first time she had tried anything aside from regular beer. Her eyes widened at how sweet yet subtle the drink was.

"I take you like it?" Sting asked while staring at her face with a knowing smirk.

"This drink is amazingly yummy!" Lucy smiled and blushed as some of her senses came back to her and she realized how _bubbly _she was acting. _Oh well, bubbly is better than depressed, I guess._

That thought was the last Lucy remembered of the night.

* * *

The harsh sunlight made its way through the room and crashed against Lucy's eyelids. She contemplated not opening them in order to prolong the current mildness of her headache. She heard a sound like pots banging against each other and before she could convince herself it was just her imagination, her eyes shot open.

She tried to slowly sit up thinking of where to hide from the intruder. As her eyes came into focus she started to notice things that were out of place. For instance, all the posters of action movies on her walls, and that the walls were covered in checkered wallpaper instead of the pale pink she was used to.

The realization hit her like a freight train almost knocking away her breath. This was _not _her room. She had no idea where she was. She was trying to keep the fear, confusion and anger from rising as she scrambled out of the foreign bed in search of a trash bin.

Upon finding it, she noted that it was empty save for a few pieces of scrap papers.

The anger and fear started to subside as she saw that trash bin was empty of the item she had been dreading. She noticed in horror that she was dressed only in her panties and bra. She quickly grabbed the duvet and wrapped it around herself.

Thoughts raced through her head as if on repeat. _But, there's no condom in the bin!_ _Did we not use protection. Why did I decide after moving here it would be okay to get off the pill? Maybe we didn't do it, I still have some clothes on._

The rapid thinking seemed to be too much for her killer headache. She kept repeating curses under her breath. She laid her head back trying to calm her brain activity down focusing on one thing. How was she going to get out of here unnoticed?

Before she even had a chance to think of an escape plan the door started to creak open. Her eyes shot open and she stood up wrapping the comforter even tighter around her body.

"Good, you're awake. Breakfast is ready."

Lucy turned around to face the door so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. She already knew before she took in his physique she it was. She knew that voice too well from their almost daily talks. "Sting?" She asked in disbelief, panic and an inkling of relief that she didn't have sex with a complete stranger.

"Yeah?" He was eyeing her suspiciously as if she was about to fall over any moment.

"No, nothing… Did… Did we, umm, you know." She said blushing at the dresser next to the bed.

"What, have sex? Yeah, we did!"

Lucy sunk to her knees and put her head against the side of the bed. She cursed under her breath as thoughts ran through her head. She promised to _never _drink again and she worried what she would do if she was pregnant. She couldn't take care of a baby!

"Okay." She said as she tried to keep her voice level. It wasn't like it was her first time or anything but it still hurt to think that she was that easy. "Okay." She said more firmly as she stood up. She managed a glace in Sting's direction almost not registering rosy cheeks, shaking shoulders and the not so silent snickers coming from behind his hand.

"Wow, you are so gullible, Lucy." He burst out. He was clutching his aching sides.

"Please, tell me what part of this is funny to you and how the _hell _am I gullible?" She spat out angrily to him. She could be pregnant and he was just laughing his ass off.

"Well for one thing, you're freaking out over nothing." He managed to say between laughs.

"How is _any _of _this_," She gestured all around them with her hands, "_nothing?_" She glared over at his slightly shaking body.

"The nothing is all of it. We didn't do anything last night." He managed as he calmed down.

"What? Then why am I practically naked?"

"That's a long story that might upset you. I'll tell you after you've had time to calm down and eat."

"Why on earth would you joke about that?" Lucy asked quietly

"I thought your reaction would be funny but obviously I was wrong. It was _hilarious_." He smirked at her and she threw a pillow at his head.

"Yeah, no. It wasn't funny." She sat down on the bed and let out an exasperated sigh.

"You'll see the humor of it someday. You're clothes are in the bathroom. Come to the dining room when you're done. Hurry or your food will get cold" He grinned at her and quickly exited the room before she had a chance to throw anything else at him.

Lucy frowned as she walked over to the bathroom to get changed. Just as he said, her clothes were on setting next to the sink neatly folded. She quickly dressed and found herself walking down a long hallway. She briefly wondered how he was able to afford such a large house when he was working at a café. Then again, she didn't exactly know what his night job was.

After more than a couple wrong turns and passing by the same rooms more than once she finally found herself in the dining room. Sting was set at the head of the table. He glanced up as she made her way over to the plate on his right.

"Did you find your way alright?"

Lucy blushed and shook her head. "I think I passed your room three times. Your house is way too big."

She started to mindlessly chew food before it struck her how good everything tasted. "Wait Sting, did you cook this?" She looked up from her breakfast in shock.

"Well yeah, I'm not too big on hired help." He smirked at her shocked face. "Besides, you didn't think Rogue could make all those cakes by himself did you? Someone had to help him when the boss isn't in."

"I am completely surprised that not only can you cook, but you can do so without burning down half the kitchen in the process." She started to eat a little faster since Sting was nearing the last few bites of his meal.

"I take it you like it then?"

Lucy looked up sheepishly and nodded her head softly. She took a sip of her orange juice. She looked down at her plate noting that it was almost completely bare.

Bare… Why was she in her underwear this morning?! She suddenly glared at Sting. He looked completely taken aback by the surge of anger directed at him. "Why was I hardly dressed this morning?"

"Oh yeah, do you want the long story starting with the margaritas or from when you actually started to get undressed?"

Lucy flushed, she did _not_ remember having any margaritas last night. "I don't even… What margaritas?"

"You don't remember the margarita incident? What _do _you remember?"

"I remember going to the bar and getting everyone drinks and I think I remember getting put to bed but I don't know if I had my clothes on or not…"

Sting burst out laughing. "Then you remember almost nothing. From the margaritas then?"

"Yes please."

Sting pushed away his empty plate before grinning at her. "After you downed that beer, it was like someone flipped a switch in your head. You kind of became all, as Yukino said, "bubbly" and you kept ordering drinks and told Minerva there was no way you were a light weight if you were still "sober" after all those drinks."

He put his hand on his face in a pathetic attempt to smother his almost silent chuckles. "Rufus, being the most sober person at the time told you that you should consider slowing down and unsurprisingly, you didn't listen. That's when you ordered a pitcher of margarita for you and Yukino."

His shoulders were shaking with the strained attempt to keep from laughing as Lucy was shooting daggers at him. "I think Yukino only got close to half a glass out of the pitcher before you tilted your head back and drank every last ounce of it. _In one go_."

Lucy put her head in her arms in complete and utter shame. Groaning for him to go on despite her obvious displeasure. "I offered to take you home since it wasn't too much out of the way and no one wanted to deal with a passed out drunk girl. We got to your complex but you had already passed out in the passenger's seat." Sting smirked and Lucy groaned much louder this time the tips of her ears turning pink.

"I didn't know where you kept you keys I didn't want to be caught searching all over an unconscious body for pair of keys. If anyone saw me doing that, it would be really awkward to explain. Being the considerate gentleman I am, I took you back to my house," He gestured with his hands to the entire building ,"where I put you to bed and did _absolutely nothing_ to you."

Lucy slowly looked over to him through a small crack in her arms. "Okay, but that has nothing to do with why I was only in my underwear this morning!"

"You are a difficult drunk, you know. After I put you to bed, you'd keep getting up every other hour complaining it was hot. So by drunken logic, each time you got out of bed, you'd strip off an article of clothing until you were down to your underwear and content with the cooling air on you. The only reason you were that is because you're a clingy sleeper." Sting burst out laughing having recounted all of her drunken night.

"Ugh," Lucy lifted up her head and moved her hands to her face in a futile attempt to cool it down and make it paler. Then realization struck her. "What? Wait wait _wait_… What do you mean I'm a clingy sleeper. _Who _I clinging too?"

"Who else? You were stuck to me like tape." He laughed even harder at the blank look on Lucy's face.

"We… we s-slept in the s-same b-b-bed?" Her face darkened and Sting stopped laughing at the murderous look on her face.

"Yeah, but I told you, _we didn't do anything._ I'm not the kind of guy to take advantage of a drunken girl, that's sick and disrespectful." His eyes darkened and Lucy looked up to see he almost looked offended for a second before steeling his expressions.

"I'm sorry, no, thanks for not doing anything to me." She smiled faintly at him before grimacing.

"About time, I was wondering whether you were even going to get a hangover. I was starting to think you were one of those super drinkers."

"Where do you keep you aspirin?" Lucy moaned out in pain.

"There should be some in the bathroom down that hall. Just bring the entire bottle out here. "

Lucy stumbled over to the door. "Where's your bathroom at?" She didn't think she'd be able to deal with wandering around aimlessly.

"Down the hallway take a right and it should be the second door on you left."

Lucy nodded before heading out on her mini quest. As she stumbled her way around the corner, she found herself met with a soft wall. She fell on her butt and glared up at the wall that was _not _there before.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay? Oh no, I'm going to get into so much trouble." There was a young lady there that seemed to be Lucy's age maybe a little older than her. She frantically waved her arms around. The girl reached down and grasped Lucy's arm to heft her back to her feet.

Lucy was speechless not sure where the girl came from or why she was in front of her. Lucy opened her mouth to ask some questions when the girl pressed her hands to Lucy's mouth. "Please don't day anything about me being here, I'll get in trouble."

Lucy slowly nodded although she wanted to ask many questions. As if reading her thoughts the girl began to speak again. "I live here, too. Don't ask any questions, I think you'll know if you need to."

The girl ran past Lucy and turned the corner before she could find her voice. Lucy started to chase after her before she remembered that Sting would be wondering where she was. She quickly went into the bathroom and grabbed the aspirin and made her way back to the dining room.

She took two pills out of the bottle and popped them in her mouth before tossing the bottle to Sting. "You took your time. Did you still manage to get lost?" He smirked at her catching the bottle with ease.

Lucy nodded dully as the dots began to connect in her head. The connections were chopped up but they were still there. "Your house is so spacious, do you really live here alone?"

"Oh I didn't tell you, I crash here with Lector whenever I don't feel like driving the full distance back to my place. Why'd you hear him talking again?"

"Yeah, good that was him I heard, I thought it was a ghost with a business attitude." She laughed lightly as Sting accepted her lie.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Sting asked.

"Yeah, I have a lot of work to do today." She frowns at the thought of having to call Mr. R.

"Okay, got all your stuff? I'll take you back now."

Lucy's buckling up her seat belt when some slight movement catches her eye. She stares over to a window by the front door. As she stares she notices the curtains moving again. Standing in the window was a pale face. She stiffened at the thought that the house was actually haunted.

The face turned away and Lucy saw her dull purple hair. The face although morphed from what she remembered, a shocking thought occurred to her as she remembered her phone call from Mr. R. and how he described the one she was looking for.

_He's young, only twenty-three. He's smooth and cunning like a fox. He could talk his way out of a high security prison cell. He's the kind of guy that just strikes you as arrogant then sweet after you "get to know him a little better."_

Lucy paled before remembering where she was. She was in the car of a friend of her enemy. Glancing up, she saw that they were already driving down the road to her complex. Sting stopped in front of her apartment.

"Thanks for the ride. See you on Monday."

"Yeah, see you then." Sting drove away as Lucy made her way up to her apartment. The second she closed her door her cell phone began to ring.

She snapped the phone open and pressed it to her ear. "Mr. R., I know who's holding Blair!"

Mr. R. chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Do you now, tell me now, who do you think it is?"

"It's Lector isn't it? I know I saw Blair, she was at his house! Then there was this other girl I ran into and she was rambling about getting in trouble if I told anyone about her."

"Hmm, hmm, I thought so, he does let his girls stay with him. Didn't you wonder why his house was so large?"

"Yeah, no not really. So what do I do if he has Blair?" Lucy's voice trembled as she realized she might not like the answer.

"The only way you can. You have to become one of his girls." She could practically here his smirk through the phone.

"H-How do I do that." She swallowed waiting for the horrid answer.

"Get close to him, I don't think I need to say how. Figure it out yourself, you're a bright girl. Now that this is over, I believe our conversation is over. Good day, Lucy." The line went dead.

This time Lucy didn't complain. She sat down on her bed and put her phone on the dresser by her bed. She knew of only one way and it made her sick at the thought of how she was about to use the people she just became friends with.

* * *

It had been a month since Mr. R.'s phone call and the start of Lucy's twisted scheme.

She had work today and Rogue was due outside Lucy's apartment in a few minutes. Giving herself a once over in her bathroom mirror. In order to set phase two of her plan in action, she had to dress up a little more today.

She put on more make up than she normally wore but not enough to the point where she looked like she was trying too hard. Instead of putting her hair in the usual ponytail or bun, she decided to put her hair in a flirty curly side ponytail. Still abiding to the dress codes of work of course.

Lucy's phone started to ring. She ignored it and grabbed her stuff before dashing out the door and to Rogue's car. "Took you long enough." Rogue complained with a small smile on his lips.

"What, I got out the house before the fifth ring this time." Lucy pouted looking out the window before she remembered her plan. "Hey, Rogue…"

"What?" He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"Does Sting have a girlfriend?"

"Hmm, why do you want to know?" Rogue eyed her suspiciously again.

"Do you even have to ask? You're a bright guy Rogue. So does he have a girlfriend or not?"

"I don't think he has a girlfriend right now."

Lucy glared harshly at him. "You don't _think_ so? Does he or doesn't he?"

Rogue shrugged ignoring her evil look. "I don't know, do you want me to ask him?"

Lucy's shoulder's sunk and she turned to look back out the window. She contemplated his offer before shaking her head. "Nah, I think I'll ask him myself. Might be easier that way, you know?" Just as she answered him, they pulled into the employee part of the parking lot.

Lucy hopped out the car the moment it was parked and made her way to the back entrance where she promptly crashed into Sting. "Good morning, Lucy." He grasped her arm holding her just a hair distance from the ground.

"Morning, Sting. You're more awake than usual." He carefully brought her back into a standing position before he let go of her arm.

"It might have something to do with you crashing into me so early on."

Rogue walked in through the door shoving his way past them. He gave Lucy a questioning look before stepping out toward the dining area. "Okay, we have about ten minutes before we have to open up. Let's get down to business!"

* * *

In Lucy's opinion, the day could not have gone by any slower. Following the vague lines of her plan, she had to attempt to make physical contact as she could. She'd say she did exceedingly well in that portion.

Now came the harder part.

Rogue's shift had already ended so it was just Sting and Lucy left again setting up the chairs again. Sting had agreed to give Lucy a ride home like usual, but she figured on the chance that Sting had a secret girlfriend and all, she could just walk home.

Lucy was starting to space out when Sting waved his hand in front of her face. She started and blushed. "Rogue told me you wanted to ask me something?" Sting asked with a slight smirk on his face.

"Oh no, what did Rogue say? Did he tell you anything else?"

"No, just said you had a question to ask me but he couldn't remember what it was."

Lucy sighed in relief thankful that Rogue might've actually helped things along. "Ah, yeah, I was, umm, wondering if you, umm, had a girlfriend." Lucy blushed, even if this was for her own personal gain, it was still really embarrassing to ask someone out.

"Really? Rogue didn't tell you?"

Lucy's face flushed in mortification, her plan was ruined. "Never mind, you have a girlfriend. I asked him but he didn't know. Never mind, forget I asked." Lucy turned to walk to the other side of the café to check if they had forgotten any chairs even though she knew they hadn't.

Sting grabbed her arm and pulled her to face him again. "No, I mean, I thought I told him that my ex and I broke up close to three months ago."

Lucy's face lit up at her newly renewed chance. "Really, I'm sorry to hear about that."

Sting smirked at her in a knowing way. "Are you?"

"Hmm, maybe not." She grinned at his slightly taken aback expression.

"Why do you want to know?" He asked even though he had a vague idea of her reason.

"I know we've only known each other for a short amount of time but I really like you!" Lucy looked away in embarrassment .

Lucy heard Sting softly laughing. She closed her eyes in mortification. He was rejecting her and worse yet, he had the nerve to laugh in her face about it.

"You could've just said no. You didn't have to laugh in my face about it." Lucy looked away glancing at the clock absently noting that they would normally be done locking up by now.

"Lucy look at me."

Lucy kept her eyes on the ground unable to face the mocking face that just rejected her.

"Lucy, seriously." He grabbed her chin in his hand and forced her to look up at him. He brought his face down and his lips met hers in a tender kiss.

Lucy started to pull away before remembering this was what she had wanted. After a moment she returned the kiss before he pulled away. "So you're going to reject me then kiss me?"

"Why would I kiss you if I rejected you? I never rejected you. You're really bad about this assuming business." He kissed her again, this time Lucy didn't flush and just kissed him back. "Lucy, I like you, too. He brought her into his tight embrace and buried his face in her hair. "Lucy, will you go out with me?"

"Of, course!" Lucy smiled at him and hid her blushing face in his chest. _I feel like a terrible person. I'm lying to him and it's all for her._

* * *

1.) From an anime I watch Yumeiro Patissiere, a guy said that sighing made you lose happiness or something like that.

2.) A What Up Mindy Gledhill!

3.)I've never worked at a cafe, just going off Korean dramas and spongebob here...

4.)I know nothing about Starbucks, I've been there once in my life.

5.)First Fairy Tail Opening

Okay, I got this chapter out, It's late I know, and I'm in a rush. I'm sorry for all the mistakes. and all that jazz.

You may have noticed that Blair looks suspiciously like Blair from Soul Eater. I know, I'm not original. This is not a cross over and I'm just using her looks and name. You don't have to read Soul Eater, she's really not that important.

This chapter is long and I had to re write it twice. Tell me how you like it, it makes me feel better…

p.s. When Lucy gets to Bosco, she's been out of Magnolia for 6 months and at the end of this chapter she's been gone for 8 and a half months or 27.5 months until she returns.

P.p.s. Theres only going to be close to 14-16 chapters in this.


	7. Her Time (Part III)

**Okay, New chappie. I kept my promise this time! This chapter would've been longer but I cut it off. I don't like writing long chapters . they tire me out.**

**Only 1,800 words this time ya'll.**

**I hope only two more chapters of her past then we can get to the fun stuff.**

**Love, Eieriann**

**P.S. There's a Lemon scene in here between Sting and Lucy. I really didn't want to write it but it's there for a reason. Ugh, I know it's worse than what I usually write. It took me three days just to figure out how it would go and I'm ashamed of it... What ever, just read :P**

* * *

12.5 months gone 23.5 month until return

Lucy sat on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. Her emotions felt so _mangled_. Lucy knew that she should be feeling regret, not whatever _this_ was. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew this was a nostalgic emotion. One she thought she had tossed when she had left her home and friends.

She stood from her bed and started picking up her clothes that were strewn across the room. She tossed them in the hamper before shrugging on her comfort pajamas. She sat back on the edge of her bed trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

The loud singing of her ringtone snapped her from her dazed state. She quickly snatched up her phone wondering who would dare interrupt her, not that she minded that much. "Hello?"

"Ah, Ms. Heartfilia. How are you?"

"Does it really matter how I am, how's Blair?"

"Oh Blair's fine, it's you I'm worried about. What the fuck did you just do? Did you and Sting do what I think you did?"

Lucy's breath caught in her throat. Time seemed to still for that one moment."You're quick, he just left. How do you know about that?"

"The same way I know about Blair and everything else."

She kept her mouth shut and looked away refusing to answer him.

"Was it consensual?" If she didn't know any better, she'd say there was a trace of concern.

Lucy cleared her throat regaining some of her lost courage. "Yeah… Has Lector done anything to Blair? When can I see her?"

"Lector won't touch Blair but don't try and change the subject here. You sound different, what's changed?"

"Just as observant as ever, Mr. R. Why did you call?"

"I've come to warn you. Don't become attached to _anyone_."

"I know I shouldn't."

"But will you?"

Before she could think about it an answer was already out of her mouth. "I… I don't know."

She could hear Mr. R. sigh in frustration. "Lucy, hurry and get to Blair. You're taking too long and I'm getting impatient."

"Yes sir…"

"Remember Lucy, I am notthe bad guy."

The line went dead.

Lucy fell back onto her bed. She threw her phone against a pillow in rage. Glancing at the clock, she noticed they had only spoken for ten minutes.

She lets her thoughts wander back to the hour before Mr. R.'s call. Her chest felt so tight, almost like it was actually physical. "This can't be happening… This really can't be happening!" She was mumbling to herself and scratching her head in frustration.

* * *

_One hour and some minutes ago_

Lucy sat on Sting's lap nuzzling her face into the collar of his shirt inhaling the tangy scent that was him. They were sitting on her couch "watching" some chick flick Lucy had randomly chosen. The moment the movie started to play, they began to cuddle and ignore it completely.

Sting tilted Lucy's chin up towards him before leaning down and kissing her. Like many of their other kisses, this one started off sweet before their emotions got the best of them. Sting lightly bit her lower lip asking for entrance. Keeping it light, their tongues timidly met.

Lucy brought one arm around his neck while the other grasped onto the collar of his shirt keeping him from pulling away. Not that he would.

_I'm enjoying this _way_ too much, I need to stop while we're ahead._ She pulled away but Sting attacked her lips again after letting her catch her breath. She opened her eyes barely noticing that behind Sting was her ceiling. _Wait, what, when did we lay down?_

She could feel hands creeping under her shirt and saw that her hands were already unbuttoning his shirt. She let out a muffled moan as Sting groped one of her breast. Lucy could feel a blush running up her face.

Their kissing was now becoming lust filled and no longer shy. Sting tugs at her shirt trying to get it over her head. She vaguely remembers sitting up and tossing it over the back of the couch. Next thing she knows is their both shirtless and Sting's kissing down her neck.

He quickly undid her bra and pushed it out of the way. He brought one of her nipples into his warm mouth gently tugging it with his teeth. Lucy moaned louder without the restriction of his mouth on hers.

His other hand tugged at the free nipples and twisted it around in his fingers. Lucy moaned out his name again at the stimulation. Her head was thrown back in a quiet moan.

She winds her fingers in his hair holding him closer to her. _Really Lucy, wake up or something. Snap out of it, this is not part of the plan!_ She felt his hands start to wander south just above her panty line.

"Lucy, if you want me to stop, tell me now. Do you want me to continue?" He looked up at her while nibbling on the swell of her breast.

"Y-yes…" _NO!_ His fingers moved around the top of her skirt moving to the bottom where he could apply pressure to her wet mound. She let out another embarrassed moan and hid her face in his hair.

"Lucy, I want to hear you moan." Sting rubbed her clothed mound again.

"Hah… Sting, we need to… hah!" He gently bit down on breast cutting off her sentence.

He nipped his way down her stomach stopping just before the edge of her skirt. One hand was on her breast rubbing her erect nipple and massaging it between his forefinger and thumb.

Lucy bit back another moan and realized all too late that her skirt was gone and her panties were already halfway down her calf.

**Lucy just let it happen, you're already close anyways. I thought you weren't a quitter.**

_This is a completely different ball park! I can't just fuck him!_

**Lucy, you're dating, it's okay. Besides, what are you going to do if he breaks up with you because you wouldn't give it up. Blair would be good as dead! It's not like you're a virgin or anything.**

_I know you're right… or I'm right… Whatever!_

**Good! Slut mode activated! [A/N all of this is in the time frame of 10sec]**

"Sting, the, aah… the bed." Lucy moaned as a finger flit over her most sensitive button.

Sting picked her up and she wrapped her bare legs around his hips so she wouldn't fall. He quickly made his way over to the bed and set her down her clothes long forgotten behind. He stood above her for a moment taking off his pants and boxers. She silently thanked god that he actually put on a condom.

He knelt over her, rubbing the tip of his penis against her wet slit. "Lucy, are you ready?" He rubbed against her again the tip teasing her clitoris.

"Hah, yes…" She thrust her hips up to his accenting her words.

Sting pulled back in and one thrust, he buried himself in her. Lucy moaned out as he filled her to the brim. She almost came with the pleasure of him entering her.

Sting bent down and kissed her, silencing her whimpers of pleasure. He slowly pulled back out until just the head was in her and shoved back in. He slowly started to pick up the pace and developed a rhythm. Lucy started to raise her hips to meet him.

Her whimpers of pleasure turned into moans of obscenities and his name. "Sting! Aah, I'm about to, haah, come!" Just as the words left her mouth, Sting gave a few finally thrust into her before stilling as her walls clamped around his member. He managed a few more thrust before coming with her.

"I love you, Lucy."

"Sting!" She gasped out as she felt his member pulsing within her. He grunted in response before collapsing to the side of her.

He removed the flaccid member for her and got up from the bed for a moment before returning shortly after. He removed the duvet from the bed and used it to cover the both of them as he laid back beside her.

She turned to him and he wrapped his arms around her pulling her to his chest. He hid his face in her hair inhaling her sweet vanilla scent.

"I love you, too…" She mumbled into his chest her face still flushed from their exertions.

He started to rub tiny circles with his thumbs on the small of her back. She pressed her face into his chest more as if trying to mold themselves together. Lucy cleared her mind not wanting to ruin the moment by over thinking things just yet.

After a few minutes she felt Sting's body stiffen beside her. She looked up to see him staring down at her with wide eyes. "What time is it?" He asked cautiously.

Lucy glanced at her alarm clock over his shoulder. "Um, 9:58. Why?"

"Fuck!" He kissed her head briefly before jumping out of the bed. "I have to be at work in half an hour." He started tugging on his clothes after collecting them from the floor. When he was dressed he ran back over to Lucy who was watching the whole ordeal with an amused look on her face.

He gave her a lingering kiss, breaking it off before it became intense. "Sorry about this, I'll call you in the morning?"

"Yeah… Bye." She smiled slightly as he rushed out the door.

After a few minutes, Lucy sat on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands as the thoughts she discarded came rushing back.

_End Flash Back_

* * *

_Okay, so what, it's not like you guys haven't said you love each other. Nothing's changed, Mr. R.'s just trying to sound dramatic._

**No, he's right, there's a change.**

_No, there's not! You don't know what you're talking about._

**When did you start to mean it?**

_Mean _what_? What are you talking about._

**Lucy, we both know what I'm talking about. Since when has you saying you love him actually meant something in your heart. Are you in love with Sting?**

_NO! Their just words. I can't fall in love with Sting, he's just a stepping stone. He doesn't mean anything to me._

**Lucy, I'm you and you're me. I know that you're in love with him and you have to stop it now!**

"How the fuck am I supposed to stop it! I can't just find an on/off button and press it! It's not that easy…"

**Lucy, back over here, I'm in your head remember?**

_I know! Just… What do I do?_

**Use your love to your advantage.**

* * *

Ha, that really was short! Sorry, but nest chapter up soon! Please review or not, they just make me feel better. You can laugh at me about the lemon scene, I really didn't like it... UGH!


	8. Her Time (Part IV Final)

3,607 words, yall. And we're finally done with her flash back! Was anyone else getting bored? Anyways, sorry if this seems rushed, I just wanted to get it out before I lost my motivation to write.

Love, Eieriann

* * *

Two weeks later

Lucy was laying in Sting's bed curled against him, her face in the crook of his neck. She gently inhaled his peacefully musty scent. One of his arms were wrapped around her exhausted body rubbing small circles into her back again. The other was playing with the ends of her hair.

"Lucy," She giggled as she felt the vibrations of his voice.

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering…"

"Hmm?" Lucy lifted her head a bit to look at his face. He was blushing. _How cute!_

"See, there's this guy I know and," Lucy's brows furrowed as she tried to figure out where this was going. "He has this kink he's been wanting to try for a while now." _Is he about to ask me to have sex with his friend? No way he'd go there._

"Huh?" She was genuinely confused as to what he was trying to ask.

"Basically, he wants a threesome."

Lucy's face paled but she quickly recovered putting on a confused look. "What does that have to do with me?"

"I might've mentioned you to him."

Lucy's eyes widened as the shock of his words hit her with their full force. "Nope. No, I'm not going to have sex with a stranger just because he likes it _kinky!_" She unwrapped herself from him and left the bed.

She started moving around the room gathering her clothes as she went. "Lucy, listen to me."

"NO! I already heard all I needed. Sting, you know I am _not _that kind of girl!" She turned to face him.

She was livid. Who did he think she was?

"Lucy, I thought you loved me? Wouldn't you do this for the one you love?" Lucy stilled as she connected the dots. He was her ride to becoming one of Lector's girls. He knew where Blair was. _How did I not see this earlier! I should've known, they are friends after all._

**Lucy, you realize that this may be your only chance right?**

"Sting, that's sick. I'm not going to another man's _plaything._"

**Lucy, what are you doing! This is going to end bad, please listen to me!**

_I… Just shut up for a while!_

"Lucy, it's not like I'm going to leave you alone. It'll just be you, me and him."

"Sting, look-"

"I really didn't want to have to play this card, Lucy." _What is he talking about? _"I guess if you can't do this small favor for the man that loves you, we should break up."

Lucy's face lost its raging red color as the suggestion left his mouth. She felt her heart, that had been harboring feelings for him for the past two weeks, shatter. How could she even think that she _loved _him? _Last time I checked, that is not love._

**Lucy, you know what to do.**

Lucy gave Sting a weak glare before moving back to the bed. She sat with her back facing him, not wanting him to see her bare front since she had only managed to get her panties on. "I… I'll…"

**Just fucking say it. It's like ripping off a band-aid. Do it quick.**

"I'll do it." She felt the weight on the bed shift just before his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Good, I knew I could _persuade _you to see things my way." He kissed the nape of her neck and pulled her against his chest. _Was his chest always this cold?_

_Three Months Later_

Lucy laid in bed trying to milk the last of her dreamless sleep into her brain. It was Sunday, she didn't need to get up early today so she planned to sleep as much as she could.

Of course the sun was running off a different plan.

Through the drawn curtains of her room ran a single ray of light. This single ray had only one mission and only when that mission was complete would it be allowed to disappear.

Lucy started to stir in her large bed. She was unable to ignore the persistent light any longer. She slowly sat up before opening her eyes. Something she had learned in her first week of living here. She briefly glanced at the lit clock across from her bed.

10:08am. Lucy was _not_ a happy camper. The way the windows were positioned could possibly be her only complaint about the house she was living in.

Yeah, house, she no longer lived in her comfy and safe apartment.

She lived in Lector's mansion along with about 32 other women. Like most of the other girls, she received her own room. Unlike the other girls, she had ulterior motives.

After the first couple official clients, she learned to not let anything effect her. On the outside, she was just a vocal doll. On the inside, she wasn't much better.

Lucy was motivated but broken.

At first it hurt to sell herself away and she'd always have to remind herself that she had a reason for doing so. Eventually, she just did as she was told, thinking of Blair instantly but not putting up a fight as she normally would.

_Fairy, where are you going?  
Hikari zenbu atsumete  
kimi no ashita terasu yo!_

Lucy snapped her eyes back open and managed to detangle herself from her smothering duvet. She made her way across the room and to the dresser where her phone sat. She snatched it up and put it to her ear.

"Lucy, hello."

"Why are you calling?" She glared at the empty space of her room.

"What, am I not allowed to call you anymore?" He laughed heartily through the phone.

"You haven't talked to me in over three months. I thought you gave up on me."

He laughed again, this one sounding more mocking than the last. "No, I just wanted to see how you would manage things on your own. You choose a less violent route than I would have thought. Have you managed to talk to her yet?"

Lucy sighed moving to sit in the recliner on the other side of the room. "No, I haven't seen hide or tail of her since I moved in."

"Hmm, how very unlucky."

"Mr. R., does she still live here?"

"Last I checked, she still 'worked' there. I haven't let her out of my sight just yet."

There was a pregnant pause as Lucy though of how to phrase her next question. "Mr. R., why did you lie to me?"

He chuckled bitterly at her. "I don't like being called a liar, Lucy. You should know that by now."

"Why didn't you tell me the person I should've been watching out for was Sting not Lector."

"Because you have to watch out for Lector just as much, Sting is just the head honcho. Lector's more of a chess piece than anything."

"Why did you tell me to go after Sting?" Lucy tried to calm her wavering voice. It had been awhile since she wasn't able to control her emotions.

"Did I say that? Oh, my bad. Does it really matter anymore? You're where you want to be and once you get to Blair, you can leave."

"Okay."

"You already know about those friends you went drinking with, right?"

"I found out a while ago. I should've known that any 'friend' of his was going to be working here."

"You're okay with that, right?"

"Yeah… I think I'm going to leave. I can probably find her better if I actually look."

"Things aren't always as they appear. Remember, Lucy-"

"You're not the bad guy, yeah I've got it. Bye." She ended the call and set the phone on the arm of the recliner. _Why are you playing the part then?_

_**XxXxXx**_

Lucy was lost.

Nothing more than that, just lost. The mansion was much larger than what she caught a glimpse of her first time being here. Of course she had been on the ground floor then. Lucy's room resided on the fourth floor along with eight other rooms and the bathroom.

All the floors essentially had the same floor plan except the first floor which only had three bedrooms and the rest of house like rooms like a parlor, kitchen, dining room and all those.

Deciding there was no way she could get much more lost than this, she started taking random turns all over the place.

Another dead end.

Lucy turned around dejected. She went back the way she came before forgetting which turns she took. Finally she finds a set of stairs and descends them. _I think I'm on the third floor now, right…?_

As she took another turn, she caught a glimpse of someone going around the corner at the end of the hall. She perked up and sped after them.

She ran around the corner and crashed into someone. _I've really got to stop doing that._ She looked down to the person that fell on their butt.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!" She knelt down to the girl and started to brush the dirt off her.

The girl looked up at Lucy with wide golden eyes and Lucy's hands froze hovering over the girl's arm.

"Blair!"

"Lucy?" Lucy grabbed Blair by her elbow and lifted her back to her feet. "Lucy, what are you doing here?"

Lucy checked up and down the hall making sure there were no witnesses to over hear them. "I came looking for you."

Blair smiled at her softly before bringing Lucy in for a hug. "I didn't think you'd actually come for me. Thank you…"

Lucy smiled and hugged Blair back tightly. "You're like a big sister to me, I couldn't just let you get hurt. I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner."

Blair grabbed Lucy hand and started to drag her down the hall. "Come on, let's go back to my room. We have to talk." She pulled Lucy into a brightly lit room and lead her over to the large couch in the center of the room.

Lucy sat down when Blair pat the cushion next to her. "Okay, how did you find me?" Blair asked trying to hide the fear in her eyes.

"Remember that talk we had last year?" Blair nodded for her to continue. "After you asked for my help I had a friend of mine trace you're phone and its coordinates were in Bosco, so I came here."

"What happened to your friends back in Magnolia? You sounded so happy then."

Lucy looked away in embarrassment and shame. "I, uh, left to find you. I didn't tell them cause I didn't want them to worry. I thought I'd be back by the end of the month at most. I wasn't expecting to be gone for so long…"

"Do they know where you are?"

Lucy felt her salty tears well up on the edge of her eyes. "No, I… They stopped looking for me a long time ago."

Blair wiped away the stray tears that made it down Lucy's face. "It's okay, I understand. When are you going to go back to them?"

"I-I was going to go b-back once I knew you were safe. I couldn't leave you green lit and in another country on your own." Blair's hand stopped rubbing at Lucy's cheeks.

"Lucy, I have something to tell you." Lucy looked up to her confused. "Please promise not to tell _anyone _else what I'm about to say."

"I swear on my life."

"I'm not going to be here much longer. I have some people I know and their planning on getting me out of here. Oh, I wish you didn't come to find me. I should've told you…"

"What? Who?" Lucy looked frantic as she processed what she had just been told.

"You know that doesn't matter! What are you going to do? I can't leave you here on your own, they'll rip you to shreds. Lucy, you have to get out here as fast as you can."

"Blair, I don't know what to do. I'm only here because I got help from someone at your old workplace. I hadn't really thought of a plan after finding you. Oh no, this isn't good." Lucy ran her hands through her hair. Her eyes darted around the room as if it held the solution to her problem.

"Look Lucy, I won't be able to leave for another year and a half we'll think of something before then, okay?"

Lucy nodded her head and fiercely wiped at the tears that had fallen. "Thanks. I'm glad that you can leave. Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving Earthland and going to another continent called North America. That the only way I can escape for good."

"Will I ever see you again after that?"

Blair pulled Lucy in for another hug. She rested her chin on the top of her head and Lucy buried her face in the crook of Blair's neck. "I don't know. We'll have to see."

"I miss them."

"I know you do. Just let it out." With those words, Lucy's tear fell freely from her eyes as Blair comforted her.

Two months before return

Over the past year and a half, Lucy and Blair had come up with an amazing almost fool proof plan. Lucy was to execute it the day after Blair left and they'd both be well on their way to the respectful places by the start of the week.

Blair was headed to a country called the United States of America and she was going to crash with some friends in a state called Nevada. It was literally on the other side of the world but Lucy was okay with it. She had spent most the past year with Blair and the few friends she picked up while in Lector's mansion.

Tonight, Blair was going to sneak away with an old friend posing as a client. The next day, Lucy was to pretend to be sick then she would sneak out of the mansion and be on the first train back to Magnolia.

That day Lucy and Blair spent most of their time together before it came time for their shifts to start. They spent the day doing each other's nails and gossiping about the things they heard on their respective floors.

As the time came closer for their shifts to start and their second separation, they stopped talking about useless things and went more over the plan than anything.

"I've been off the charts for three years already, I have another three to go before my name is taken off the hit list and I'm presumed dead. At the end of those three years I'll come back to you." Lucy nodded her head and stared off into the distance. They had another twenty minutes before they had to be downstairs and ready to go.

"I'll go to Magnolia for you. I'll bring my friends and we'll talk and talk and everything will be okay. I'll be in contact with you after I'm gone."

"I know, I'll see you then. Don't forget me, no matter what happens, remember I'll be there to get you out of trouble."

**XxXxXx**

That night Blair left. None of the other girls had any idea of what happened to her. A few of them figured she had been kidnapped by a client, it wasn't overly common but she wouldn't have been the first case. Lucy knew the truth but that didn't keep her from feeling upset over the whole thing.

The higher ups weren't happy. They never liked when one of their girls went missing. Sting was no exception, he would rage around the mansion taking his anger out on any girl who crossed his path. This of course meant that most of the girls would be staying in their rooms unless called upon.

Today was going to be Lucy's day of escape. She was nervous but excited that she could go back to her home in Magnolia. Every possible negative thought ran through her head during the day. In order to try and take her mind off them she decided to spend the day in the room next door.

The girl in the room next to her happened to be the same girl she ran into after that day at the bar with Sting and his workers. Her name was Olivie and despite where she worked, she was a _very _nervous girl. Lucy liked to hang around her because it was almost as if she sucked all of her nervous emotions and used them herself.

Olivie was laying on floor flipping through some magazines she had recently got and Lucy laid on her couch with her arms over her face. "W-what do you t-think happened to B-Blair?" Olivie asked out of seemingly nowhere.

Lucy stiffened a bit before relaxing again. "I don't know, maybe she was kidnapped."

"R-really? I-I think she was k-killed." Lucy glared over at Olivie who was too absorbed in her magazine to notice.

"Why do you say that?"

"You haven't b-been here as long as the o-others, but they say that the l-last girl who dared to run away was h-hunted down and killed." Lucy raised an eyebrow at her.

"Were you there for that?" Lucy asked mildly curious.

"N-no." Olivie's face flushed at the intense aura flowing from Lucy. "I-I'm sorry, I forgot that B-Blair was you're friend."

Frowning, Lucy turned away from the girl and stared up at the ceiling instead. "No, it's okay. I guess we'll just have to see how this all plays out…" Lucy checked the time and decided it was time for her to get ready. "Olivie, I have to work tonight, I'm going to get ready, bye." She stood from the couch and stretched as she made her way to the door.

"L-Lucy! I'm s-sorry, don't be m-mad at me, p-please!" Olivie looked terrified at the thought of losing a friend.

Smiling over her shoulder at the timid girl she waved off the apology. "I already said it was okay, I'm not mad at you."

"B-Bye, Lucy."

Lucy exited the room and walked the couple of steps to hers. Entering, she locked the door behind her. She froze when she turned around and took in the figure laying on her bed. "S-Sting, what are you doing here?"

"Lucy, took you long enough. Do you know how long I've been waiting here?"

Swallowing down her fear as she acknowledged what was about to happen. "D-Do you want anything to drink or eat? I can go get you something. She made her way over to the mini fridge next to her couch.

"You know what I want, Lucy. Get over here!" He practically yelled the words at her and Lucy decided he already had enough to drink. She shuffled her way over to the bed and stood before him.

"Yes, Sting?"

"Tonight, you're going to be my toy." Lucy's eyes widened at his words.

"But Sting, my shift starts in half an hour. I can't be with you tonight."

Sting laughed as if she had said the funniest thing. "I'll change it, you can make it up another day. Right now I feel like big tits and ass. You know you have the best body out of all these girls."

_Fuck, how am I supposed to leave if he's holding me captive for the night. What do I do?!_

**Make a mad dash for the door! Hurry!**

Lucy turned and head for the door full speed ahead but Sting was much faster. Just as she hit the door and started to fumble with the lock he pulled her back. He was laughing maniacally at her futile attempt at escape.

"Lucy, why would you run like that? Do you prefer a stranger over me?" He glared down at her squirming body trying to free itself from his grasp. He picked her up and threw her onto her bed.

Lucy tried to make her way backwards across the queen sized bed and over the edge but he grabbed her ankle and pulled her to him again. "Sting, I have to work! Let me go!"

"You're a noisy little thing aren't you? If you don't be quiet, I'll have to make you." Lucy instantly shut up knowing it was not an empty threat. She eventually just gave in and let him have his way with her body.

Her thoughts of escape far from her mind. She wasn't going to be leaving Sting's grip anytime soon.

_Two Months Later_

Lucy pulled back on her lingerie from where she had laid them on the table. She had just finished with a client and had her next one up in ten minutes. She took the time to reapply her smudged make up and pour cheap perfume on her sweating body. This next guy would be her last for the night then she could go back to the manor and rest her sore body.

There was a brief knock at the door before it opened and a man walked in. Without turning around Lucy tossed him her purse. "Put your money in there, don't take any or you have to deal with my boss." She separated her hair and moved it over both her shoulders.

Deeming her good enough she stood to stare at the man sitting on the bed. His hair was an odd color, salmon or pink. She gave him a calculating look, he didn't look like the type to have to pay for sex, he was kind of cute.

He looked up at her catching her eyes and in a painfully familiar voice he said. "Come back with me."

* * *

_That was terrible! I couldn't deal with writing another Lemon so I cut that bit out. I hope you aren't mad but rape just isn't my style._

_Again, sorry about how rushed that was but I'm tired of her background. __Thank you to all my lurkers! I know you're out there_

_Next chapter:_

_Lucy gets a job and there's going to be a lot more talking and bottled up feelings than you can handle!_


	9. Present Plans

_Ugh, this chapter suuuucks! It's only 1,690 words so whatever. Next chapter is going to hopefully be more fun/action plot packed._

_Love, Eie_

* * *

It was quiet.

Not too quiet, but a heavy kind of quiet. The kind of quiet that makes talking almost impossible. There-are-too-many-things-to-say-but-you-can't-form-the-words kind of quiet.

Three pairs of eyes darted from one another to the figure leaning against the back of the sofa. Her arms were brought up to cover her face.

She didn't want to exist anymore.

Natsu was the first to move, he reached up to pull her arms from her face. Lucy's eyes remained close, not a single tear threatened to spill. She just kept her head tilted back. Listening. Waiting for the ridicule that was sure to come.

"Lucy," He began softly, her head tilted toward him in slight confirmation that she was listening. "Are you okay?"

Her body went rigid, she couldn't remember how to answer that question. Erza was the next to speak up, Lucy could practically feel the livid murderous intent flowing off her. She flinched slightly at the sound of her menacing voice. "We will protect you from you from Sting, he won't set foot in Fiore without us knowing about it." She was glad that she wasn't the one her anger was directed towards.

"We're not going to let you disappear again." Gray piped in his voice just as steely.

Lucy nodded finally opening her eyes to stared at her three protectors. "You don't have to worry too much about me. I spent the last two and a half years knowing him, I have a vague idea of what he'll do." She gave what she thought was a reassuring smile but probably looked more like a grimace.

Natsu's rough hands grabbed her again and he glared lightly at her. "Have a little faith in us, you're not alone anymore." Lucy just nodded her head though she didn't really agree with them. She hadn't felt this alone since her mom had died all those years ago.

Pulling her hand from his grasp, she shakily stood to her feet. She walked over to the door way and turned around to face them all. Face void of all emotion she bowed her head to them. "You know what happened in Bosco, it was a really long story and now I'm tired. I'd like to be left alone. In case you're not here when I return, good-bye, it was nice to see you two again, Gray and Erza." She swiftly exited and went to her room.

Erza waited for the faint sound of Lucy's door closing before she turned her glare on Natsu. "Did you already know what happened when she was in Bosco?"

He rapidly shook his head exclaiming his innocence. "How was I supposed to know what she was doing for those three years! She didn't call or anything. I only found her because of a letter I received in the mail two weeks ago."

Gray looked at him confused. "You got a letter in the mail telling you where Lucy was and you didn't tell us?"

"What was I supposed to do? Tell you guys then find out it was all a sick joke and we were no closer to finding her than we had been the day before? I wasn't going to let you guys be hurt, too."

Erza shrugged seeming to have lost all her fighting spirit. "He has a point, Gray. It would have hurt everyone to get their hopes up then have them smashed."

"The letter you received, who was it from?"

Natsu glared pointedly at Gray. "I would've told you if I knew who but there was no return address only the initials RRC."

"I guess they didn't want to be acknowledged…"

"Natsu, go get the letter." Erza commanded a new found hope in her voice.

Natsu returned shortly with said letter in tow. He handed it to Erza unsure of what she was about to do. Erza opened the letter. Her eyes quickly scanned over the short message. It read as follows:

You are looking for Lucy Heartfilia. Lucy resides in Fiavè, Bosco. You will have an appointment with Lucy on the 2nd of April. The address you will meet Lucy at is written on the envelope. Arrive precisely at 1:37am. Do not be late, Lucy does not wait for anyone. This will be your only chance to meet Lucy, do not mess it up.

RRC

"I know the person who wrote this is a guy, but that's all I've gotten from it." Erza frowned still completely confused.

"How do you know it's a guy?" Natsu asked defensively.

"The lack of pronouns. Women write with more pronouns than men do. I think that means we can count out all the women Lucy worked with as well as Minerva, Yukino and Blair."

"What if the person who sent this was an old customer who saw the way Lucy was being treated?" Gray suggested helpfully.

Erza slowly nodded her head a slight smile playing at her lips. "That's brilliant, that would explain how he managed to get an appointment for Lucy _and_ know where she was."

"So we can only assume this guy has been with Lucy before. I think that's as far as we can get with the limited information we have been provided with."

"Now, about Sting." Erza smiled darkly at the change of subject. "I have some _friends_ who owe me a favor or two. I can get them to monitor the border of Fiore and Bosco. I was serious when I said he wouldn't make it into Fiore without us knowing."

"Yeah, that's assuming he doesn't sneak his way in." Gray rolled his eyes at the flawed plan.

"That's where you're wrong, Gray. Sting can't sneak into Fiore without seeming overly suspicious for doing so. He also doesn't know that we'll be guarding the borders so he has no reason to. Plus in his line of 'work' he can't afford the police looking into his file to figure out why he was trying to sneak across."

Natsu grinned at Erza's brilliant plan. "How soon can you get them to monitor the border?"

"I'll talk to them in the morning."

"Perfect."

"Erza, it's almost seven, let's head back for the day." Gray suggested after glancing at his phone.

"It's already been six hours? Let's go then. Natsu, try and talk to Lucy, see if you can get her to open up about Sting or see if she knows anything about RRC."

Natsu nodded leading them to the door and letting them out. After the door closed behind them, he made his way to Lucy's room again. He tentatively knocked against the wooden door. There was no answer so he assumed her asleep.

When he opened the door, he was shocked to see Lucy sitting in front of an empty wall legs crossed and her eyes closed. She looked so still almost as if she had frozen in place there. She showed no reaction to the door opening or any of the other sounds Natsu had made.

He walked quietly to her not wanting to wake her from her sleep or trance or whatever she was doing. He reached out to grab her preparing to carry her to her bed.

Just as his fingers brushed her shoulder her eyes shot open. They were saturated in fear before melting into recognition and hardening at their close proximity.

Natsu back up some and raised an eyebrow at her. "What were you doing?"

"Breathing."

"You didn't hear me knocking?"

She shook her head and began to stand up. "No, is there something you need?"

"I was… um… do you want to talk about what happened?" She walked over to her bed and sat down in the middle.

"Not particularly. I do have a question for you though."

"Shoot!" He grinned at the thought of them actually making progress.

"Do you mind if I stay here? I mean until I get my own place of course." Her face lightly tinted at the embarrassing question.

Natsu smiled broadly at her and reached out to ruffle her hair. "I invited you here, no way am I going to throw you out on the street when you week is up."

She gave him a slight smile. "Yeah, thanks…"

"I know a place that you could get a job at, their always looking for more hands."

"Great, where?"

"Fairy Tail, you worked there before you left. Master would give you back your job no questions asked."

Lucy frowned for a moment contemplating her nonexistent options. Sighing she nodded her head in agreement. She'd have to socialize again.

"Great! We'll go in tomorrow morning. We'll get you back your job and I'll take a job for two so you can come with me, okay?" Lucy nodded again.

Reaching behind her, she grabbed one of her white pillows and held it to her chest. "Hey… Can I… sleep in your room tonight?" She buried her face in the fluffy pillow not wanting to see his reaction.

Natsu grinned at her and rubbed the top of her head. "Of course. Are you already tired?"

Lucy nodded her head and leaned into his large warm hand. Natsu stood from her bed and went to her door. "Just come when ever you've got your pajamas on." He left, lightly closing the door behind him.

Lucy sat there for a moment longer before dragging herself to her dresser and pulling on a pair of lose fitting shorts and a tank top. She turned off her light and made her way across to Natsu's room. Without knocking she opened the door.

Natsu was sitting on his overly large bed pulling on a shirt. Lucy gawked at his flexing muscles before her cheeks started to tint. She shuffled over to the bed and crawled under the covers. "Sorry, I should've knocked." She mumbled once she was safely out of site.

Natsu pulled back the duvet exposing her for a bit before making his way under them as well. He pulled Lucy to his now covered chest. "It's okay, you don't have to apologize for anything, you know." Lucy nodded her head against his chest. "Get to sleep, you have a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah, good night."

"Good night."

* * *

_Do what ever you want, Next chapter is hopefully going to be longer or something. It was super hard writing this without making Lucy all wimpy and stuff :P_


	10. Of Days and Missions

_3,005 words  
Not that long but whatevs._

_Love, Eie!_

* * *

Eyes wide in frustrated terror, Lucy's heart racing as she takes in the building she had abandoned years ago along with the loving people residing inside. The loving people being her only problem. If they had felt something like anger and detest, she might have been able to deal with them. Of course, this was Fairy Tail where grudges were held over spilled milk not friends that leave without contact for three years.

"-cy. Lucy! You sure that you're ready for this? We can go back home if you want."

Snapped from her dreary daze, Lucy's eyes flit over to her caretaker. Giving him what she hoped was a smile, though it felt more like a grimace, she spoke her unsure thoughts. "No, I'm ready, I've been gone far too long to just turn back now." Natsu gave her a comforting smile at her words of determination.

Lucy walked briskly past him entering the enchanting building that was once her second home. She notices that even though the outside was changed, the inside still held the same structure but with more space. There was still the bar with the pale hair maiden cleaning mugs and chatting with a young girl with long blue hair holding a white cat. There was still an abundance of wooden tables filled to the brim with people.

Her eyes skimmed over the people interacting with each other. She silently tacked off the people she knew and remembered. Levy, Cana, Mira, Elfman, Laxus the list could go on for at least another thirty people. She briefly wondered where Juvia, Gray and Erza were.

Natsu walked in after her coming to stand beside her frozen figure. He grasped her hand waiting with bated breath to see if she would pull away like she did with most physical contact. When she didn't, he proceeded forward.

The first to notice their arrival was the talkative barmaid. "Good morning, Na-" The words frozen in her throat as a look of mild confusion filled her face. After what felt like an eternity to Lucy, the barmaids eyes widened in recognition.

Lucy threw her eyes to the ground being over taken by the extreme embarrassment. "Morning, Mira, Wendy."

Not noticing the suddenly heavy atmosphere between the three adults around her, Wendy smiled and waved at Lucy. "Ohayo, Natsu-san. Who's your friend?" Wendy's words attracted the attention of many of the guild members**[1].** Quickly the guild became silent and the soft smile on Wendy's face fell to an anxious frown.

"Mira, is the master in? We have some business to discuss."

Slowly Mira pulled from her trance to look at the one holding hands with Natsu. "Uh, yeah… Who's this?"

Natsu hummed in response a sly smile on his face.

She kept her eyes on the ground as Natsu pulled her up the stairs in the back and away from prying eyes. They soon reached a large oak doors with intimidating bronze lion knockers.

Natsu shoved open the doors without knocking and announced their arrival. "Gramps, we're here!" Lucy looked around Natsu and saw that sitting at an overly large desk was the short old man that had once called her his child.

"Ah, Natsu, good morning." He moved to stand in front desk. Coming over to Lucy, he held out his hand. "Lucy, it's good to see you again. Good morning!"

She took his hand in hers and gently shook it. "Good morning, Master Makarov."

"It's been a while. Natsu tells me you want to rejoin. Is that true?"

"Y-Yeah, if that's okay." Lucy looked at the Master her eyes pleading.

"But of course, you're always welcomed back at Fairy Tail." He went over to his desk and pulled out the stamp. "Same place as before?"

"Yes, please." She held out her right hand to him. He briefly pressed the stamp to her skin before removing it.

"Welcome home, Lucy." He grinned broadly at the reemitted family member.

"It's good to be back, master." Lucy gave a faint smile.

"Now then, shall we reintroduce you to everyone? Or would you rather introduce yourself later?" Makarov was looking up to her expectantly.

Lucy glanced over to Natsu who was conveniently looking around the room avoiding eye contact with them. "N-now, I think I'd rather get it over with." _Like ripping off a band-aid._

"I thought you'd choose that. Let's go! Come on, Natsu, you too." Makarov grabbed Lucy's arm and led her from the room and to the balcony overlooking the main floor.

It was mostly quiet on the main floor save for a few stray whispers here and there. The moment they stepped to the railing of the balcony, everyone looked up at them. There were looks of confusion from the newer members and a hint of hope from the older ones.

"Listen up you brats! We've got a new addition to the guild or an old member reentering if you will. Most of you know her already but for the newer brats, this is Lucy Heartfilia." The hall was silent before it erupted in cheers. First it was the new members then the older one started to join in as the weight of what the master had just said began to sink in.

Lucy's face flushed at all the attention and started to move behind Natsu. He grabbed her shoulders noticing her discomfort and kept her in place. He leaned over to whisper in her ear words of encouragement. "Just smile a bit and a wave. They're still your friends."

Lucy gave a small smile and a mechanical wave to the crowd. After doing so, Natsu grabbed her hand and pulled her to the stairs. Before they even reached the ground floor, the members were swarming the pair asking questions that started to blend together.

"Lucy, where have-"

"Welcome-"

"So you're the famed Lu-"

"Lu-chan! I missed you, plea-"

"Hey Flame brain, I thought we-" At the sound of Gray's voice, Lucy looked up to see him and Juvia making their way toward the group. Beside her Natsu was attempting to speak over the crowd.

"I know what we agreed on, but plans change, Ice boy." Natsu nudged her side lightly as if telling her to talk to the crowd.

"Ah, I'm back…?" As the words left her mouth she was pulled into a group hug between Levy, Cana and Mira. She tensed under their touches but they didn't seem to notice. Or maybe they just didn't care.

"Lu-chan, you idiot. How are you just going to disappear for three years without giving me the last chapters of your novel." Lucy could hear the sadness Levy tried to mask with anger. _Even if it's fake, I feel somewhat better with anger being on the plate._

"What's this hand holding development between you and Natsu, did I miss something?" Mira asked with a sly smirk playing at her lips.

"N-no, he's just… We just… ugh never mind!" She gave up with a sigh of defeat.

"Enough of this lovey-dovey hugging shit. Let's introduce you to the people you've missed. This lil' sweetheart is Wendy and her cat Carla." Cana pulled the young girl over to her.

Up close, Lucy could see the girl wasn't as young as she seemed. Lucy pegged her for maybe thirteen years at most. At the sudden movement, the cat leapt from her arms and stalked off to a less crowed area.

Gaining her attention, Wendy bowed to Lucy, her face slightly flushed from being yanked into the spotlight with Lucy. "N-nice to meet you. I'm Wendy Marvell. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too, Wendy." Lucy gave the frightened girl a reassuring smile before being whisked away by Cana.

Glancing back at Natsu, she tried to ask him for help but he was already walking in the other direction. Lucy was soon pulled from her silent pleas by Cana who was pointing out another member. Lucy turned back to look at who Cana was talking with. In front of then stood a girl about Lucy's age maybe a year younger with familiar pale blond hair cut into a short style. Her startling blue eyes and kind sisterly face is what caught her attention though. Without being introduced, Lucy knew this had to be Mira's younger sister she had sometimes heard about.

"This hot thing is Lisanna, Mira and Elfman's younger sibling."

Lisanna held out her hand to Lucy who took it graciously. "I'm Lisanna Strauss, it's nice to get to finally meet you."

"It's good to finally meet you." Lucy said softly. Lisanna opened her mouth to say something else but Levy cut in pulling Lucy into another hug.

"Lu-chan, you can't just ignore me!"

"Sorry, Levy." Lucy felt far more nervous to be talking to the girl that was her best girl friend. "It's been a while. Good to see you again." Before they could continue on with their conversation, Natsu pulled her away.

"Sorry, Levy, Lucy and I are taking a job together, see you later!" He tossed a flyer at Mira before dragging Lucy away. Only once they were safely in his car was Lucy able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"I forgot how touchy they were." _Maybe I'm only noticing now because it bothers me. _She thought to herself. Thinking back, she remembered hugging everyone like that years ago.

"Yeah, I probably should've reminded you." After a couple minutes of comfortable silence, Lucy's curiosity gets the best of her.

"Where are we going?" She asks trying to sound nonchalant about it.

"Our job is stop a bank robbery before it happens. We're headed to Nhmal **[2]**, so we aren't that far from Magnolia." He grinned at her a bit before facing the road again.

She subtly nods her head letting her mind wander. Nhmal, was a small country town only about 70 miles outside of Magnolia. She vaguely remembers seeing a sign for it only the week before. _I've already been here a week. Thinking back, how was I going to return after my initial week was up? I wouldn't have been able to just waltz back in there without expecting a major beating._

She turned to stare out the window. Already the large buildings and houses were becoming farther and smaller apart. _How long were driving? I should pay more attention to my surroundings._

They drove another ten minutes before something occurred to Lucy. "Didn't you used to have a cat like Wendy has?" Lucy asked offhandedly.

Natsu chuckled with a big grin on his face. "Yeah, Happy, last I checked he was lodging with Wendy."

"So you just gave her your cat?" Lucy raised an eyebrow him. Natsu and Happy were almost inseparable; practically joined at the hip… or feet since Natsu didn't really carry Happy

"Not exactly, it was more like Happy ditched me for her. More specifically, Carla. I swear, he's in love with her!"

Lucy laughed at the thought of the cat actually being in love. The idea was absolutely absurd! Natsu mock glared at her for a bit. "You're laughing now, but he practically worships the ground Carla walks on. He's always stealing fish from the local vendors, which is a normal thing but now he doesn't eat them, he gives them to Carla." Lucy laughed harder; her cheeks were starting to tint from the lack of oxygen.

After a few more minutes of painful laughter and a pouting Natsu, Lucy finally calmed down. _I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, that felt great. _She was still smiling with her head tilted on the window. "Thanks." She muttered under her breath knowing he couldn't hear her.

"We're almost there, do you want to start going over a plan of sorts?" Lucy nodded her consent forcing herself to pay attention to what he was saying. "We know they're going to attack the First Nhmal County Bank and I have a vague idea where their hideout might be since we've had trouble before with this particular gang."

"So you've stopped them before?" Lucy asked her attention sparked. "Why do they keep committing crimes?"

"That's what I want to know, this will be the eighth robbery of theirs that been stopped. I don't think they're very bright bunch of criminals. So really all we have to do is show up and hit 'em around a couple of times and problem solved."

"Piece of cake. How do we know that they're attacking this bank?"

" They sent an 'anonymous' message to FNCB. They quickly figured out who it was because Nhmal is a small town and there's only one group of trouble makers."

"Wow, they are really bad criminals…" Lucy trailed off as her eyes drifted out the window again. They were already in Nhmal but instead of stopping at the bank like she thought they would, they kept going into a more dingy part of the town.

Natsu stopped his car in front of a rundown warehouse. After digging around under his seat he pulled out an audio recorder and handed it to her. "I need you to record everything that's said from the moment we step into the warehouse."

"I don't have to fight?" She wasn't complaining at all, she just thought she'd have to get her hands dirty.

"Nah, no offense, but you look even weaker than before. We'll play it safe and let you do the recording."

Lucy muttered her agreement as they exited the car. She fiddled around with the recording device for a bit before Natsu opened doors. She quickly pressed record and peered around Natsu into the dimly lit area.

"Hello, anyone home?" Natsu called out to the darkness. He took a step into the room and beckoned for Lucy to follow close to him. "Is there anyone in here that's planning on robbing a bank soon?"

Lucy snapped her head the her right. She could have sworn she heard scuffling just now. She glared into an almost black corner of the room. Just as she was turning back to Natsu, she heard a muffled swear. Lucy nudged Natsu in the side and pointed to the darker corner before whispering to him her concerns.

Natsu grinned at her before walking over the corner showing only amusement. A few seconds after he disappeared into the darkness, there was a series of shouts the silence. The silence only lasted for a few seconds before a figure emerged from the shadows.

It was Natsu and he was carrying tied up bodies with him. He brought them closer to the door where the most sunlight was coming through "See, I told you. Simple job, all we have left is to get a confession out of them then we can leave. Would you do the honors?"

Lucy gave a small smile before turning back to the criminals. Taking a deep breath, she began her question barrage. It only took a few questions and a reverse psychology question to get a complete confession out of tied men. Not needing anymore information from them, she turned off the audio recorder.

"Good job, let's just get the police and get out of here. I'll be right back, keep an eye on them." Natsu stepped outside the warehouse to make the call leaving Lucy alone with the idiot criminals.

Her eyes were moving across the nine of them before falling on the oldest looking one. He was staring intensely at her face and it was slightly disturbing. After a few seconds his eyes moved away from her face but to her frustration, they moved to her breast. She glared at him about to call him out on it when he spoke up first.

"You, I remember ya. We fucked last year, do ya remember? Best fuck of ya life, amiright?"

Lucy's face paled at the thought, she knew somewhere in the back of her mind that they probably did. "I don't know what you're talking about. God forbid, you have me confused with someone else." Her glare at him sharpened out as she willed him to shut up.

"No, I know it was you. It's your eyes… and tits. Though it was back in Bosco, I don't get what cha doing here."

A chance! Lucy frowned deeper at him. "Of course it was in Bosco, you wouldn't be able to do any of that in Fiore. For your information, I haven't even set foot outside of Fiore." Lies but he didn't have to know that.

"Really? I coulda sworn it was you, your tits are damn well the right size and I ain't never forgot a pair of tits once I see 'em."

"You've made a mistake now shut up before I make you."

"No, I know it was-" He was cut off by Natsu walking back into the room. Lucy threw one last glare and the criminal before directing her attention to Natsu.

He cocked an eyebrow at her stressed appearance but shrugged it off. "The police are here and we're free to go. We've just got to give them the recording and we're free."

Lucy nodded stiffly avoiding eye contact with her possible ex-client. Her movements completely mechanical, she didn't realize where she was until Natsu was nudging at her arm. "Hey, are you okay? You're face is really pale." Lucy's eyes widened, she didn't want for him to worry.

She gave him a weak smile and started tugging at her seat belt. "I'm fine, I'm fine, you're just imagining things." She pressed her hands to her chilled cheeks attempting to bring back some color.

"Good, as a celebration of our first official mission together since your return, why don't we go out for dinner, I know this nice place not too far from here."

Lucy blushed a bit. _Don't think about it, Lucy. You are just friends, it's not a date. _She smiled wider at him and nodded her head at him. "Yeah, that sounds great."

* * *

_Cutting it off cause I meant to upload this yesterday but I'm only just finishing writing it. Thanks to all that Faved/Followed/Reviewed (you know who you are ;])_

_[1] I'm calling it a guild but it's not really, it's more like a business place where they take jobs... and shit... yeah... okay it's a guild ._._

_[2] Pronounced (Mahl) or (Muhl) I don't like using vowels (excluding my pen name XP) You'll be seeing lots of places like this._

_Questions?_


	11. I'll Show You Mine

**2,816 words Happy belated Ides of March and Saint Patrick's Day... I guess.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. When was the last time I did this...?**

* * *

It was hot. Uncomfortably hot. The kind of hot _no one_ likes. A couple more minutes and Lucy was almost certain she was going to pass out.

Almost. If there wasn't that terrible racket she claimed for her alarm clock ringing not even three feet away. This shouldn't be a problem, of course. She just has to move and pat (or whack) it atop its shrieking head. As of late, this had become more of an issue than usual.

She already knew she was going to fail, but she tried anyways. Just one arm was all it would take. One arm that wasn't pinned under her body. Or the body of the intruder in her bed.

The intruder being the only reason she felt like she was going to pass out. The only reason it was so uncomfortable. The only reason she couldn't turn off her god forsaken alarm.

Lucy let out an irritated growl. She had even resorted to _locking_ her bedroom door at night. This did absolutely nothing to stop the closet cuddle whore from getting into her bed.

She had stopped sleeping in his room almost a month ago but he "thought [she] would sleep better with [him] there" as he had told her the first morning she found him in her bed. She did sleep better with him there. But that was _not_ the point.

Shrieking and shrieking continuing on and on and- it stopped. Four minutes until it restarted its war cry.

Lucy squirmed and tried to break away from the vice like grip holding her into the hot (and unsurprisingly sexy) muscular chest. The grip tighten and Lucy was forced to stop wiggling.

Her eyes darted over to the clock. 7:32. Make that three.

"Natsu!" She shouted out, hoping to gain the attention of her sleeping friend.

A muffled snort was all she received in return.

She could just barely move her fingers. She tried to find something for them to pinch onto. Her efforts were futile. Her hand was palm down into the mattress.

Her thin left leg was trapped between his heavy and large ones. Only one leg was stuck. She tried moving her right leg and found that she could move it back and forth.

She moved it as far forward as she could before bringing it back with a force that only a Lucy Kick could deliver. It was a weak blow, even she could feel that, but it did manage to get Natsu to release his grip a bit.

She kicked him again.

Three times.

Four.

His leg worked its way under hers keeping it from moving any further. Lucy tried her hardest to wiggle away from him. She felt like she was about to pass out. She started to pant from the exertion and groaned at the thought of having to stay in the unbearable heat until he woke up.

Her alarm started up again. Lucy sighed in frustration and wished she could glare at the person torturing her.

An arm shot out of the covers and smack the alarm on the head and fumbled around to a bit searching for the switch that would keep it from ringing again. Lucy took advantage of the weakened hold and rolled away from Natsu's fiery body.

She fell off the bed in an ungraceful heap before leaping back up. She stood at the edge of her bed and glared at him releasing only a fraction of her pent up anger. She smirked as a wicked idea popped its way into her head.

Lucy's fingers grasped the covers where she had been laying/dying and gave them a rough yank away from Natsu. Of course things didn't work out like in the movies and she had to put some effort into pulling the covers from under him. Once she had managed to get the covers off him, she smirked in triumph awaiting his rude awakening.

When he didn't immediately start moving, Lucy grew frustrated. She kicked and pushed at him until he was laying on his back and loud snores erupted from his gaping mouth. "Natsu Dragneel, get up right now! We have a mission today and you're taking too long to wake up!" She started hitting his stomach when he didn't do anything but grasp around for the covers she had taken.

_Snap._

Lucy put both her hands on his side and began to push him to the other edge. As he was nearing it, she stood on the bed and started kicking his sides until he fell off the bed.

He grunted once he hit the floor and sat up. His gaze was glassy looking and confused. "What the… Why do I always wake up on the floor of your room?"

"Because you never want to sleep in your own bed OR wake up on time. We have a mission today so go and get ready!" She began to tug him to her door. Once he was safely outside her door, she slammed it behind him and made sure to lock it with as loud a sound the small device would allow.

**XxXxXxX**

They entered Fairy Tail and were immediately greeted by a variety of people. Lucy left Natsu and went to sit at a table with Levy and Wendy. "Good morning, Levy, Wendy." She smiled at them.

"Good morning, Lucy-san."

"Mornin Lu-chan!"

Lucy began flipping through the tabs of the binder she carried with her. She found what she was looking for and unclipped it from the binder. "Since I don't have much time here this morning, here is the latest chapter." She handed a stack of papers to Levy.

Levy all but snatched the papers from Lucy's outstretched hands. "Oh, thank you so much Lu-chan! The last chapter was amazing and I couldn't wait for this one. What happens to Ami and Yumi. No, don't tell me!" Levy was practically bouncing in her seat from her excitement.

"Good luck on your mission today, you and Natsu-san are taking the cheating case, right?" Wendy asked while Levy was distracted.

"Yeah, Lady Stheno wants a divorce or something." Lucy frowned as she talked.

Levy perked up from her reading as she listened to Lucy. "Stheno, like the sister of Gorgon from Greek mythology?"

"Yeah, like those Gorgons, weird name, right?" Levy shook her head before going back to reading.

"That doesn't seem too hard. Natsu-san agreed to take a mission without a need for violence?"

"He's the one who chose it. I don't think he read it right but oh well. Besides, the job pays well so I'm not complaining."

"Lucy! Come on we're going." Natsu called over to her from the door.

"Bye-bye, see you two soon." Lucy rushed out as she gathered her stuff and headed towards to door.

"Good luck!" Levy and Wendy called out together.

* * *

They had only been in Rikahs for fifteen minutes and already Lucy knew she was going to be bored out of her mind. Rikahs was a town for old rich people with well breed families and manners. Sure Lucy could attempt to fit in, but where's the fun in that?

Natsu and Lucy were currently awaiting the arrival of Lady Stheno in the Korgay Estate parlor. The pair were sitting on a posh velvet couch with a small marble coffee table between then and a currently vacant chair. They had been waiting for five minutes which by itself was not a long time, but when you were being quizzed by the Lady's most trusted butler, time seemed to change.

At first they just had to sign a non-disclosure agreement for when the press caught wind of the divorce that was "sure to effect all in the great nation of Fiore". They expected the NDA but questioning their heritage and religion. Did any of that matter?

"Miss Heartfilia, where is it that you lay your head at night?"

"I live with Natsu…?" She answered unsure if that was what he was looking for.

"The two of you, an unmarried couple, live in the same house together?" He asked in clarification.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" Natsu asked butting in.

"No, no, not at all. Not at all." He wrote something down on the clipboard he was carrying. Lucy could see that Natsu was getting pissed off about something.

"Giovanni, I demand you to stop pestering these lovely children. I apologize for my late arrival. Shall we get to business?." Lady Stheno entered the room and tossed a glare at the nosy butler. Giovanni bowed low to her before leading her by the arm to the large velvet chair across from Lucy and Natsu.

Despite her name, Lady Stheno was quite a beauty. She was small and petite and her short flaming red hair was in a waved in an almost childlike way. She looked only twenty years of age when she was actually forty-seven. Her face was also young, the only sign of her age being the laugh lines around her mouth.

Lady Stheno opens the folder she had been carrying under her arm and pulls out a few pictures and papers. She points to a picture of a middle aged man with graying black hair and ink like black eyes. "This is my current husband and soon to be ex-husband, Count Khasurt Korgay. I want proof that he is being unfaithful to me or else I can't go through with the divorce." She points to a small dingy looking building and frowns. "I have a feeling this is where he goes to partake in his debaucheries. I just need a couple pictures and this whole case will be over."

She shuffles the pages until she comes upon a page full of faces. "These women, are relatives and therefore do not count. Take these with you so you can make sure any female he hugs or kisses is _not_ on this list. It would also be appreciated if you take photos of him leaving the club." She hands the photos and papers to Lucy.

Lucy pulls out her binder and begins to slide everything into the laminated sheets before securing the locks. "By what time would you like these photos?"

"No later than eight this evening. I'm almost positive that he is at that club and not in his company where he should be. I've already called and they said he wasn't in. The address is on the back of the photo." Lucy glanced at the analog clock on the coffee table, they had six and a half hours to finish the job.

Natsu frowns at the binder in Lucy's hands. "You only want photographic evidence, no physical contact between us and the target?"

"Yes, I don't want him filing charges and finding out about the divorce before I'm ready to tell him."

Lucy stands after catching Natsu's crestfallen look. "Thank you Lady Stheno, that is all the information we will be needing. We shall see you later this evening." Natsu follows her lead and stands, too. They both incline their heads to the extravagant lady before taking their leaves.

**XxXxXxX**

"Lucy." Natsu whined as he looked over to Lucy with pleading eyes.

"For the last time, my answer is NO!" She glared at him before facing away and out the window on her side.

"Come on, I'll never ask you for one again." He prodded hoping to actually get somewhere with her.

"You and I both know that's a lie."

"I swear just a little rub." He moved his hand to be a little closer to hers. Just a little bit of space between the two of them.

"There's not enough room to do it." Her eyes lazily scanned around the rental car they were in.

"We could go to the back seat." He suggested, trying to hold back the hope in his voice.

"…"

"Or lean back the seats." He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"We're supposed to be watching for the Count."

"We've been here for two hours, he's not leaving there anytime soon. Just a little rub, Lucy please."

"…"

"I'm aching to be touched by you!" He groaned out with a slight glare in her direction.

"When you say it like that, it makes me want to." She sighed out casting him a wary glance from the corner of her eye.

"Then do it Lucy, you know what you're doing." He urged her on.

"Shut up."

"It's not like you haven't done it before."

"Shut up."

"It'll be your first time with me."

"Fine, I'll do it!" She agreed with a huff.

Natsu perked up and looked at Lucy. His eyes were flaming in anticipation. "You'll give me a back rub?"

She mustered up as much of a glare as she could. "I already said I would. Lay down on the back seat."

Natsu hopped into the back seat and laid down on his stomach with his calves against the tinted windows. His head was cradled by his arms and he was looking at her expectantly. After he was situated, Lucy moved to sit on his upper part of his thighs. "This has got to be quick, only ten minutes and try to keep an eye out of the window so I'll be able to take a picture."

"Yeah, it's my shoulders that are hurting, just so you know." Lucy playfully smacked his back before getting to the massage.

She started at his middle back digging her thumbs in and moving them in large circles. "Shoulders my butt, you're tense all over!" She began to work her way up just below his shoulder blades making sure to put more pressure than necessary in that area. He groaned out his response to the almost pain.

Finally, she began to dig in the heels of her hands on his shoulders putting some actual weigh behind it. "You are a goddess at this, you know?" He began to close his eyes. He wanted to savor the heavenly feeling bestowed upon him.

"Yeah, I've been told that before. Keep your eyes open." She smack him on his back again to catch his attention. She frowned and putt more weight in and turned her circular motions to just rubbing motions.

Movement in the corner of her eye made her turn toward the windshield. Exciting the club now was the Count with a woman hanging on to his arm. Lucy snatched up the camera from the front seat and began snapping pictures. She got one of the woman smothering his arm in her breast and one of him leaning down to whisper something in her ear and the last being him giving her a deep kiss before leaving to enter his car.

"Did you get the photos?" Natsu asked, still pinned under Lucy.

"Yeah, sorry I'll move now." She stumbled into the passenger's seat and he followed after her into the driver's seat. Lucy looked through the photos on the camera making sure she had enough. She didn't look too much at the girl just focusing on the Count.

They stayed in the parking lot for another five minutes filling in paperwork before leaving to go back to Lady Stheno's house. Lucy glanced at the clock on the dash and smirked, it was only 7:17, they made great time.

* * *

They were on the train ride back to Magnolia going over the copies of files for the Korgay Estates mission. Well, Lucy was going over the files, Natsu was trying to keep in his dinner. He was laying with his head in Lucy's lap and the folders on top of his head. She would occasionally smooth his hair if he started to stir.

Something in the back of her mind kept telling her something was off. She already checked to make sure they were on the right train, which they were and she had already gone over their luggage to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything like Lucy's bag, which they hadn't. She was now going over the paperwork making sure everything had copied fine and was readable so they could claim the job money.

It happened as she was sifting through the photos. Something or someone caught her eyes. Someone she should've noticed earlier. It was probably the hair that threw her off. Instead of being down with the two bun type things and a braid, it was just down and heavily curled.

She froze and her eyes took in every detail proving how right she was. The dark blue almost black hair should've stuck out along with the dark green eyes that she used to fear seeing. It was all there and now that she was looking for it, they stood out like a sore thumb. Slowly Lucy flipped to another image, one where the hooker was holding onto Count Khasurt's arm.

The hooker was definitely her, Minerva Inoue. **[1]**

* * *

**[1] Inoue as is Kikuko Inoue because she's Minerva's voice actress and at this point in time, Mr. Mashima has not given her a last name. So I'mma still this lady's name.**

**Thank you to everyone who had reviewed and faved and followed and just read this! You guys are all amazing! Thank you for all 60 reviews! :D**

**Also, sorry for being unclear and if I've said this before, again sorry, I have a terrible memory XP There is no magic in this fic, they fight with brute strength and intelligence. No magic at all.**

**P.S. At the rate I'm typing, this is probably going to be from 20-25 chapters instead of 14-16 like I hoped. At least I know what I'm doing, right?**

**Loves,**

**Eieriann**


	12. If You Show Me Yours

**_Late up dates FTW! I apologize for being so late, but you might as well start expect chapters up every two weeks now. My school is going through some intense last minute study crap and I have to take part._**

**_Sorry about the grammar mistakes and all that, I really didn't feel like going back over this..._**

**_Only 2,000 words, sorry :P_**

**_P.S. It's been almost a year since I started this and now I'm so close to finishing it. Thanks to everyone for reading this and sticking with me even after I disappeared for all those months!_**

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It was nothing. She was always telling herself that lie. Ever since they returned from their mission in Rikahs, every day, every hour, almost every minute. The photos wouldn't leave her thoughts alone, they were already plaguing her dreams. Of the eight days they've been back in Magnolia, she's had three nightmares. After the first three, she couldn't force herself to sleep more than two hours at a time. At least she's awake whenever Natsu tries to sneak into her bed.

At night as she lays awake in her bed, the thoughts are more vivid. They are unrelenting, insisting on having her think of everything that can go wrong, everything that has gone wrong and everything that will go wrong.

Lucy didn't want to think of anything at all. She wanted to keep everything that she knew was soon to come locked up in the darkest pits of her heart. From herself and more importantly, from everyone around her.

Natsu didn't know and she planned on keeping it that way. If he knew, Lucy had no idea of what he would do, but she knew it wouldn't be pretty. Though she also felt that if he did manage to figure out what's been keeping her on edge for the past week, he'd be angry at her too for not informing him or anyone else of her secret sooner.

On the flip side of herself that wanted to keep everything blocked out, she knew that she had to uncover the reason for Minerva's working in Fiore. Of all the things she's learned, one of them was that prostitution was strictly forbidden from Fiore. Getting caught, buying or selling, could land a person up to ten years in prison.

Meddling wasn't something she could do very much of, she only knew so much and she didn't have the technology to figure out anymore. Not that she'd be able to use it if she had access. Also, there was the high chance that all her meddling could give up her location, assuming Sting didn't have her home address. All the time everyone had put into keeping an eye on her would go down the drain.

This, of course, didn't sit well with her. Lucy was sure Sting knew where she was. It had been her that told him what city she was from. How many times had she told him about Magnolia and the people it sheltered? Had she even told him of Fairy Tail? Why couldn't she learn to keep her mouth shut?

Of all the things that bothered her the most, why hadn't he come for her yet? Nights spent questioning her safety, the safety of those she cared about. Natsu, Erza, Gray, Levy, Juvia… He was planning something, this she was sure of. Sting was never one to give up on something he had his eye set on.

In her time at the mansion, there had been over thirty new recruits. For each one, Sting would "train" them personally, he'd be gone for weeks at a time but when he was done, he always came back to her. Blair said herself that after Sting's session with her he had at the beginning he hadn't been to visit her.

At the time, Lucy felt some sort of twisted pride in having caught the attention of the head man. It was practically an honor. Now, she felt disgust and fear. He had an interest in her, why hadn't he come for her yet? They searched for Blair for a _month_ and she pulled the same disappearing act.

Not even just him, why hadn't he sent Lector or Rufus even Yukino after her. Unless, Minerva's being in Magnolia was the first sign of his return. She couldn't answer anything, Lucy wasn't even sure if she wanted these answers. Whatever the answer was, she wouldn't like it. Her half assed excuses coursing through her mind meant nothing. _They don't care about me, I really wasn't that important. Be happy, Lucy, this is exactly what you wanted._ She was lying to herself, something wasn't _right_.

With all these thoughts winding around the morbid questions she's taken to torturing herself with, she began to struggle. Not only in keeping herself from falling asleep in Natsu's car or on the couch, but to keep her emotions in check. No one is every good at keeping calm when running on only two hours of sleep a night. If she let her guard down, she'd turn back into a crying, sobbing, overall weak mess of a girl. Lucy was not going to take two steps back, she'd already come so far. They thought she'd already come so far.

When her and Natsu were alone, she could feel his suspicion towards her. He was always asking how she was feeling and checking her temperature whenever they had a moment to themselves, which was quite frequently seeing as how they lived together. Whatever answer she gave him never seemed to satisfy him, he'd drop it at the time, but he didn't believe a word.

All of everything that was going on was beginning to stress her out. Why was she even stressing over something that she might have completely misunderstood? It was already seven o'clock in the morning and she hadn't left her room yet. She needed to calm down soon before she gave herself a migraine.

Now here Lucy was, using her last resort to keep her from panicking, She was meditating, again. She's only had to do this once since returning to Magnolia, only when things seemed too hard for her to handle.

She was going all out this time, she locked her door, put in her ear buds and cleared out the immediate area in front of her emptiest wall. Ten minutes in and almost everything was cleared from her mind, only the most stubborn thoughts stayed. At this rate, she'd be able to have a full nights rest tonight.

To rid herself of those last thoughts, she began to focus her attention on her heart. The gentle and even thudding of it against her chest, the way it was immutable, always there for her to fall back on. It never gave up on her, it was her constant.

She was counting every beat that she could feel and was matching her breath to every third beat. Slow breaths, slow heart rate. Her body's lullaby began to lull her into a state of almost consciousness. She was floating again in her own space of nothingness. The comforting kind of nothingness, not the murderous kind that choked her and beat her until she was hardly able to exist. She let her mind wander through the light grey tones of her thoughts.

Her tense muscles eased into a comfortable easy-going stance as the worries left her mind and body in peace. Slowly, her attention shifted from her heart beat and breathing to her core. There she left a small ball of negative energy to form. Soon the ball began to expand larger and larger until it was roughly the size of her person.

Just as slowly as it was expanding, it began to decrease in size as the negative energy left her body leaving her with a fresh and serene state of mind. As she began to reach the peak of her tranquility, her music stopped and she became once again all too aware of her surroundings.

Lucy's eyes opened the second her music stopped. It was a five hour track. Already she felt better, even as she thought of why she was nervous it didn't bother half as much. After a couple of seconds of collecting herself, Lucy stood up. She glanced at the clock on her wall and saw that it was only quarter past noon.

"Are you done?" Lucy careened her head so fast to the voice that she had almost gotten whiplash. Laying on her bed reading a manga was none other than the most feared Titania Erza Scarlet.

"Uh, yeah… What are you doing in my room?" Erza turned the page and a small smirk appeared on her face.

"I'm here to talk to you, Natsu's really worried about you and you're not letting him in." She turned another page before setting the manga down, and sitting up on the bed.

Lucy glanced at the manga Erza had been reading and soon found out that it was one of Natsu's old favorites. "I'm not shutting anyone out. You guys are just making assumptions again." Lucy frowned slightly at having one of her questions answered, Natsu was getting suspicious of her.

Erza glared at the blond, not willing to give up the fight she picked. "Then tell me what's wrong, you haven't been yourself in a while. Even Gray's noticed and he's denser than a potato!"

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Lucy's face flushed at having lost her temper at Erza. "I mean, seriously, I'm fine."

"You know I hate it when people lie to me Lucy. Something happened on your last mission and you're not telling anyone. Did Natsu do something inappropriate to you?"

Lucy shrugged and began to put her hair up in a ponytail. "Natsu would never do anything like that."

"I'll just keep guessing if you don't give me anything to go on."

"There's nothing wrong, just a bad week, okay?"

"How could you have a bad week, you haven't talked much at all since you got back!"

"It's really nothing, you know. Now, I think I'm going to go on a run, exercise and all that." Lucy began to head to her door. As she put her hand on the knob, Erza spoke again.

"I had Mira give me the documents from the Lady Stheno mission." Lucy froze with her hand still on the knob, she was unable to see the frown Erza had at her reaction. "You took some pictures of her husband, excuse me _ex-_husband, at a strip club of sorts. What happened there?"

"Nothing." She croaked out, her voice was giving out on her with the utterance of each lie. She cleared her throat before turning to face Erza with her eyes ablaze. "I'm not even sure if what I saw was what I'm thinking it was."

"What did you see?"

"I saw Minerva. She was clinging onto the Count in some of the photos."

Lucy slowly turned around at Erza's shocked gasp. "You mean the Minerva from Bosco? What would she be doing in Fiore?"

She made her way to her bed and sat down beside Erza. "I don't know, I've been asking myself the same thing for a while now." _I was so relaxed and now here I am stressing again._

Lucy waited for the anger that was about to come. "What the FUCK, Lucy?" There is was. "You've been hiding this for a week now." _Eight days._ "Do you not see how important it is that we know this?! What if she's in Fiore for reasons other than business? What would we do if you suddenly disappeared? We'd have no clue on where to find you or who took you other than the assumption that it was Sting!"

Lucy put her head into her hands and tried to block out what Erza was saying. Her attempts were futile and seemed to increase the volume and weight of her words. Erza stood from the bed angrily and began to pace the room. "If Minerva's here then Sting probably isn't too far behind and that means there is a probability that they haven't given up their search for you. We have to tell Natsu and Gray and we're go-"

"Please, don't tell Natsu!" Lucy looked up at her livid friend with pleading eyes.

"And why shouldn't I?" Erza challenged.

"I… I don't want to bother him anymore. He already does so much for me, and I don't need him stressing over my past."

"Honestly, Lucy this is not the time to be a hero!"

"I know that! I think Minerva's being here was just a coincidence. I know of her, she's not patient. If she knew I was going to be in Rikahs she would have come for me."

"Or maybe she's planning something." Erza countered her eyes calculating Lucy.

Lucy bit her lip, she wasn't sure if what she was saying was true but if she could get someone else to believe it, she could do the same. "No, I don't think they'd do all this planning for one girl. Minerva was just expanding her business range to outside of Bosco. I'm sure that's positively normal." Her eyes were determined and almost glaring at Erza trying to get her to understand.

"I see." Erza's clenched fist relaxed, she ran a hand through her bangs to sweep them to the side.

Lucy sighed in relief, talking to someone was like lifting the heavy weight off her chest. "Thank you."

What Natsu didn't know would only hurt her.

* * *

**_So, I know it was short, but I could NOT get this chapter out to save my life. Again, sorry for grammar mistakes and all. Is it wrong to ask for a beta when one has a beta profile of their own? Oh, well... Next chapter I hope is going to longer and more plot filled and less Lucy thinking/meditating. Any guesses on whats going to happen next? Yes? No? Lobster?_**

**_Until Next Update!  
Questions? Comments? Concerns?_**


	13. Pourripot? Potpourri!

**WARNING! I fucked up my spell check so it leaves a lot of words unchecked. I read through this to try and find as many mistakes as I can but there are going to me some left overs. If you would be so kind as to point them out, I'll go back over it and fix everything up.**

**I know this is late by a day or so, I said every two weeks, right? Whatevers, I've been getting into other fandoms like the Soul Eater one and Inuyasha. I'm not going to lie and say I've actually worked on this, cause I haven't except maybe when I glanced at it and was over come by writers block. Anyways I'm hoping to get this fic done by the end of June or start of July.**

**Words: 1,566**

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It was that time of the year again when all of Magnolia was in the spirit to party. There was heavy bass pounding from houses on every block and the streets were swarming with horny teenagers enjoying their break from school. Business in clubs was better than anything New Years day might have to offer, mainly because of the random discounts they had every night; from half off drinks to women with green eyes to free entrance to men wearing golden wrist watches. Like most town wide festivities, they started with Fairy Tail.

In her time away, Lucy had forgotten how well know Fairy Tail was. Not even a full week into the month of July and already the request board was overflowing with colorful request for bouncers and dancers even though they knew that Fairy Tail had its own affairs to prepare for. Occasionally the younger members would take a job so they had money to support their wild living but other than that, no one even glanced at the board.

The mayor would often send gophers of his to speak with the master or anyone else of power, Mira and Erza, who was available at the time. The gophers would always request frequent progress reports on the parade the guild was organizing or come to reject an idea that was not safe or child friendly.

Lucy was secretly thankful for all the interruptions during the day. She been alone with Erza since she confessed her fears to her, she didn't have to deal with the questions that Erza would be foolish to not ask. Even without Erza studying her, Lucy didn't have much time to herself, which she was also thankful for. No time for her thoughts meant no time to mope and over think every little thing. All of Lucy's spare time was spent at the guild helping form the decorations and hanging them up around town as they were completed.

That's where she was now, sitting in the middle of the guild surrounded by most of the female members and the few male members that got wrangled into the crafts portion of the preparations. They were all staring down at the banner they were planning on hanging over city hall at the end of the week.

It was full of colorful magnolia flowers and their guild symbol in the corner. It was painted in mostly water colors that bled in the soothing way they were meant to. It was going to be sent to be laminated then some guys would go and hang it up and they'd be on to their next project.

It was while they were admiring their hard work that Natsu came in. Like most of the guys, Natsu showed up around noon after the girls were finished with whatever project they took on and after they finished nursing the hangovers they had from the previous nights drinking.

"Good morning all!" Natsu yawned weaving around the desk and tables that were pushed close to the entrance.

Lucy perked up at the sound of his voice and smiled at him. "Natsu, it's already half past noon. You're just in time; we finished the city banner and need you, Gray and Gajeel to hang it up."

"What? But I just got here!" He whined, falling to the floor dramatically.

A thundering voice came from a table covered in envelopes, forms and other important looking documents. "Natsu, if you showed up earlier like you were supposed to you wouldn't be so tired. Gray and Gajeel got here on time and you don't hear them complaining. Now, get to work!"

"Oh my Erza, those two left an hour ago with Lisanna to pick up supplies for tonight's project." Mira chimed in from her pile of papers.

There was a quick snap then half the papers on Erza's desk crashed to the floor. "No way they've been gone for too long!" She stormed out of the guild and out of sight.

Erza slammed the doors shut, leaving everyone slightly shocked. Recovering quickly, Juvia chased after her screaming for her to spare Gray-sama's life.

Yawning again, Natsu plopped into a chair and propped his head up with his hand. "That just happened. Erza needs to chill or something before she gives herself a stomach ulcer."

"It's only for July, she'll be fine in August." Levy said waving away the minuscule amount of worry that accumulated in the air. "Since Erza's not here to enforce anything, we don't need to hang up the banner today."

"Perfect, alcohol break! Wine? Gin? Anyone?" Cana asked holding up various bottles all mysteriously labeled with 'xxx'.

Lucy sat in a chair beside Natsu and laid her head on her arms, they've been working on the same banner for seven hours. Levy called her at five am saying they were about to start working on another banner, she couldn't find it in her to reject the offer and stay in her bed longer with Natsu.

"You wake up too early and your bed's no fun if you're not there." He rubbed her back soothingly.

"I know, starting tomorrow, Wednesdays are my lazy day. I'm not getting up for no one!" Natsu chuckled and pat her head.

"Have you had lunch yet?"

"How are you hungry? You've been asleep most of the day!" Lucy turned her head to look at him.

"I don't know, I just do what my stomach says and right now it says to get three McGangbangs with a side of fries and a large drink of coke." He rubbed his stomach and put a pitiful look for Lucy.

Lucy burst out laughing and bopped him playfully over the head before standing and stretching. "Come on, knowing you, your stomach won't hold out much longer." Natsu was quick to his feet and followed Lucy out the guild.

"Be back later, going to get a McHeart Attack!" He called over his shoulder waving at whoever took the time to listen.

**XxXxXxX**

Natsu was driving Lucy back to the guild after their lunch. They were sitting in a peaceful silence that could only exist after eating your fill in artery clogging burgers. Lucy was staring out the trying to not let her thoughts ruin her content mood.

They always seemed to pull her away from any happiness she held at the moment. Thoughts of violent boyfriends and slimy clients. Possible stalkers she spent too much time thinking about and women she briefly met that wanted her head on their wall. Fiercely tempered scarlets and surprisingly subtle salmons. God dammit, she was thinking again!

She's really got to stop doing that. Thinking and letting her thoughts wander, that can't be good for her health. She startled from her thoughts by a soft poke to her side. She gave a small grin to Natsu. "What was that for?"

"You're moping again, I can hear your brain working from all the way over here." He poked her again emphasizing his words.

Lucy sighed and looked down to her hands. "I know, I've got to stop this."

"Don't think too much about it."

"Yeah…" She turned her head to look back out the window but soon turned it back when she realized Natsu was talking again.

"… Date to the Pourripot Ball. Something about being manly and what not, you know how Elfman gets about these kind of things. So, I was wondering if you'd go with me. That is of course if you don't already have a date. Do you know how many weirdos there are that look at you every day. I even caught Reedus staring- Am I rambling? I don't exactly-"

Lucy smiled and place a hand on his shoulders to stop his bumbling. "I don't have a date to the Pourripot and you know that Natsu."

"Yeah, I know that but what if someone got up the nerve to ask you today while I was at home, I would've never-"

"Natsu…" She started trying to calm him.

He interrupted her and rubbed his hair in that shy way of his."Yeah, I'm rambling again, sorry I-"

"I'll be your date, you don't have to worry about it." She rushed out not giving him time to embarrass himself anymore.

He risked a quick glance in her direction a look of shock on his face. "Really? We can go together?"

"Yes, keep your eyes on the road!"

"Right!" His grin was infectious and soon Lucy was smiling too. This had to be one of the best days she's had since her return. It was nice to be smiling with her heart again.

**XxXxXxX**

"Yukino, if you would." A man said as he sorted through the papers on his desk.

"Yes, Mr. R.?"

"Do you know of their plans? I have a feeling they're going to make their move by the end of the month. A brilliant move on their part, everyone will be too busy partying to notice that their friend is missing."

Yukino shuffled with some papers in a binder she held. "Yeah, here they are, she'll hardly have anything to stay home and relax. How will they get to her?"

"I don't know but that's what you are to find out. They are not yet suspicious of you so make sure to play it safe."

"Yes, Mr. R." She bowed to him before tossing a small smile out. "Besides, I'm always careful."

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_Thank bloody heaven thats over! Any guesses as to what's next? Yes? No? Lobster? Again, ignore the grammar issues, soon as I fix my word 2007 everything'll be good._

_P.S. I've decided to start doing shorter chapters but more frequent updates. If you all object, I'll do longer chapters but slower updates. I have school work to be doing, you know ;3_


	14. Don't Ask About the Mask

_**2,511 words**_

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"Today's the day." A soft feminine voice remarked, the pale haired girl looked anxiously over to her superior.

His smirk was hidden by the exotic mask he wore; a teal and red Chinese dragon. The mask covered his short black hair leaving just a man in a mask and suit. "It's a shame we won't be doing anything but watching… For now."

"Oh, I wish we could help Ms. Lucy, she was-"

"Silence, Yukino. Know your place and do not speak out of turn."

She didn't have to see his face to know he was glaring at her. She swallowed, she hasn't seen him angry at her since her first week here when she asked about him wearing mask half the time. "Yes sir." She started to shuffle nervously through the papers in her lap. She already knew everything about their target.

Lucy Heartfilia; lives in Magnolia, Fiore; in danger of being kidnapped. They knew everything from her address, 147 Strawberry Ave., to her choice of underwear, lace lingerie in black, red or pink depending on her mood. They also knew that in the next few days a group of people were planning on kidnapping her as soon as she was alone.

Yukino wasn't there to stop the kidnapping; Mr. R. felt it was essential in his studies. He only wanted to observe. She didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Mr. R. sighed and shook his head causing the paper tendrils of his mask to rustle. "You might as well start acting tough now if you're going to submit this easily. It's a wonder you were ever able to work for Eucliffe."

"It's not like I wanted to work for him." She glared at his stupid mask. "Couldn't you have gone with something more conspicuous?"

He chortled loudly and the overly large mask tilted to and fro. "There we go! Anger; I love seeing you fume. As for my mask, don't you think it looks cool? I've always wanted to go with a dragon mask, but I could never find one that felt right."

Yukino frowned, there was no way he was going to be serious anytime soon. "Yes sir, it looks fantastic."

**XxXxXxX**

Lucy stared open eyed and slack jawed at the cluttered room in front of her. She brought a shaky hand to her pocket and fumbled around a bit until she grasped her cell phone. She numbly pressed in a number she's already memorized, her eyes never once move from the scene in front of her.

Soon the call was answered by a sleepy Levy. "Lu-chan what's up? It's like 5AM, you know."

"I need help." She whispered as she looked into the room as if waiting for the inhabitants to annihilate her and mock her crumpled body.

"Why? What's going on?"

"I… I just realized… I don't… have a dress to the Pourripot!" She glared at the clothes strewn across her room. She woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back asleep and decided going through her clothes would be a good idea. It wasn't.

Tonight was a rare night for her. Natsu was taking up more than half her bed and she had her room to herself. The only reason for the lack of Natsu being that he had a killer hangover and decided to camp it out on the bathroom's tiled floors in case he had another bought of nausea.

"Nothing?"

"Nada! Why didn't I see this earlier, I should've looked around when he first asked me."

"We've been real busy lately, I guess."

"Levy! What do I do, I don't have any accessories either!" Her hand that was holding the phone was shaking as the full weight of the situation hit her.

Levy slowly rose from her bed and as an afterthought brought the covers up with her to cover her scarcely clothed chest. She grabbed the alarm clock off her side table and peered at the numbers as she started her mental calculations. They only had a week left until the Pourripot, six hours until noon, and there were a couple of stores that only held sales until a certain time of the day, they'd have to plan ahead in order to hit everywhere. If they didn't hurry, all the good supplies would be gone!

"This is god awful! It's still too early, listen, later today like noon we'll get together with Juvia and Erza and go shopping. I'm sure Erza doesn't have anything yet; she doesn't like shopping so it's always last on her list. I've got to figure out what to do about my shoes."

Lucy sank to the floor in gratitude. "Thank you _so_ much, Levy. You're a life saver! Sorry about the time, I kind of last track while searching through my wardrobe."

Levy let out a loud yawn. "No problem, but I'm going back to bed, early morning and all that. Good night or morning."

"Good morning and night, mail me later?"

"Yeah, bye." Levy hung up and let the phone fall from her hand to the floor as sleep wrestled with her mind. She turned over and snuggled up to the giant teddy bear that was Gajeel.

He wrapped a protective arm around her and pulled her in closer. "Do I want to know?" His sleep husked voice asked.

"Dress… Shopping later… Natsu and Lucy… Sleep now." She trailed off as she fell into a peaceful slumber.

Gajeel let out a light chuckle as she wrapped her arm around him and buried her face in his chest. What a dedicated little bookworm.

**XxXxXxX**

Lucy entered the mall searching for her friends. In the end, it was her, Levy, Erza, Juvia and Wendy that ended up coming. They all had their things to shop for all revolving around Pourripot. Levy found a pair of shoes she really liked, she just needed to pick them up from the store. As Levy predicted, Erza had absolutely nothing prepared and was in dire need of a shopping spree. Juvia needed new shoes and Wendy was going to pick out a second dress; she was going to be on the float and needed a less formal dress.

After a few minutes of wandering through the mall, Lucy saw Juvia's bright blue hair. She sped up and quickly made her way to the small group. "Hey guys." She smiled at them and they returned the greeting.

Levy stepped up seeming taller than her actual height. She effortlessly called the groups attention to her and put on her leader mask. "Let's get down to business. We need a variety of clothing, shoes and accessories today. We'll start broad and go through J. C. Penny's 'cause they have everything cute under the sun. Let's go!"

Levy led them with her head held high to the Penny's on the far end of the mall. Once they got there, they promptly split up into two groups according to their needs; they decided to meet up within the hour.

Lucy and Erza decided to find Wendy's dress first since the teen section had the cutest dresses that she would look amazing in. "Lucy-san, I don't know what color to go with; pale rose doesn't go well with my hair." Wendy was frantically searching through the dresses on the rack; even then, her eyes were scanning the rest of the section for anything eye catching.

"Don't worry, leave this to me. You keep looking here and I'll grab some dresses from that side." Lucy left off with a determined look on her face. She glanced over her shoulder to see Wendy trying to get Erza to set an employee back on his feet; she was holding him a good three feet off the ground for reasons she couldn't hear.

Within a few minutes, Lucy's arms were piled high with dresses of various blues and pale pinks and rose shades she thought would compliment Wendy's hair. She excitedly went back to Wendy who was trying to console the sputtering employee; Erza was nowhere to be found. Lucy cast a wary eye in his direction before thrusting a dress into her arms.

"Let's go and get you changed!" Lucy rushed her to the changing stalls.

After a few minutes Wendy called out from the other side of the door. "Umm, Lucy-san… Do I have to wear something so revealing?" She stepped out of the stall dressed in mid thigh length, metallic blue dress. She turned around and there was no back, just a few strings attaching each other.

Lucy frowned and nodded her head. "Yeah, maybe just a tad bit." She began to dig through the remaining dresses and pulled out a pale blue one. "Try this on next." She shoved her back into the stall and waited.

Wendy stepped out in a few minutes later in another fluttery dress, though it reached her knees instead. Wendy frowned at herself in the mirror and Lucy frowned at Wendy. "Lucy-san, I don't think this is it either…"

"Yeah, no. Okay! I know this one is it, it's practically calling out for you." Lucy grabbed another dress and gave it to Wendy. "Third time's the charm, you know what they say."

Wendy glanced at the dress and made her way back into the stall. She was soon out again with a small smile on her face. "I like this one!" It was a smoky gray, knee length, salsa style dress. She spun around and the skirt of the dress flared up hardly past her mid thighs.

Lucy smiled at the smile on her face. "Yeah, this is definitely it. That took a lot less time than I thought it would; we only spent half an hour on your dress."

"Though, if you knew this one was the one, why'd you grab," She stared at the pile of dresses, "twelve other dresses?"

"I… don't know? When shopping, it's customary to grab as many things that appeal to you. Don't worry, there's a booklet to look at if you need the rules." She winked at the teen and began to gather up the remaining dresses while she changed back into her clothes.

When she exited the stall for the last time, she cast a glance at the dresses Lucy still held. "What are you going to do with those?"

She just shrugged and tossed the dresses onto a chair in front of the changing stalls. "We need to find Erza."

"Um, I think she said something about checking out the jewelry; at least that what she was asking that poor man about."

"To the jewelry section!" Lucy exclaimed as she started for the front of the store. As expected, there Erza was staring at the rings inside the display case. She had a fiercely determined aura about her that made Lucy slow down as they neared her. "Erza, what are you looking at?"

"Ah Lucy, did you find a dress alright?" She jumped back from the display and rubbed the back of her neck.

"No…? We found Wendy a dress though, it's so cute!" Wendy held up her dress with a smile on her face.

Lucy glanced at Erza's empty arms and suppressed the urge to frown. "You didn't find anything." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I got distracted." Lucy quirked an eyebrow at her odd behavior and made a mental note to ask Erza about it later. "Look at the time! We spent so much time chatting; it's almost the end of the hour. We should go to Levy and Juvia and pay for our purchases."

As they headed to the shoe section, they were stopped by a short employee. "Ma'am, we're going to have to ask you to come with us." Erza paled and Lucy tossed her a confused look. The employee's manicured hand wrapped around Lucy's arm. "You threw roughly a dozen dresses onto a chair instead of returning them to their proper clothing racks."

Erza released a sigh and Wendy looked extremely worried. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll fix it right away. Go ahead guys, I'll meet up with you in a minute." Turning back to employee, Lucy let her pull her towards the stalls again. "I'm sorry, we were in a hurry; our friend went missing."

"Oh it's no problem, it won't take too long. My boss is real big on enforcing broken rules, and she's not someone I want to get on the bad side of anytime soon." The employee shook her long white hair and spared Lucy a small smile.

"Tell me about it! But you've to do as you're told or you get in trouble." Lucy smiled comfortingly at the girl and picked up the pile of dresses in her arms.

"I couldn't agree more, Lucy Heartfilia." From the stall in the far back stepped out Minerva Inoue. The dresses fell from Lucy's arms and she made to dash from the area but was tackled by the employee. "I see you've met my assistant, Angel."

"Minerva! Let me go!" Lucy struggled against Angel.

"I'm not the one holding onto you or are you blind." Minerva smirked down at the girl and Lucy twisted her head to glare at her.

Lucy tried to calm her breathing and took a deep breath. Before a scream could leave her lips, Angel's fingers were wrapped around her lips. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"I still don't see what Sting sees in you but I owe him the favor, so…" She shuffled through her purse and pulled out a small vial. At the fearful look in Lucy's eye, she chuckled. "Don't worry, just something to knock you out; you always were a screamer."

She popped the stopper off the vial and put it under Lucy's nose. Lucy held her breath and refused to breathe. "Oh, we're going to be difficult, huh? Angel, roll her over." Angel quickly did as she said and sat next to Lucy with her wrist in one hand and the other hand over her mouth. "I was hoping to have a reason to do this; Sting said to only use necessary force. Keep her mouth shut."

Minerva stomped down on Lucy's stomach. A forceful breath pushed its way from her nose and her eyes were held wide open as she struggled to regain her breath. Minerva bent down and shoved the vial under her nose again. Soon after, a shuddering breath entered its way back into Lucy.

Lucy's vision began to spot as the fumes went to her head and her eyes drifted shut in an enforced sleep. Minerva stood again and let out a small chuckle. "Rufus, if you would." From the stall adjacent to the one Minerva exited came Rufus in all his blond haired glory. "Make haste, her friends must be getting suspicious. Through the back door please."

He smirked at the hidden innuendo and grasped Lucy around her ankles. He pulled her up and tossed her easily over his shoulder. "I'm not allowed to touch her, you know."

"Who said I was talking about her?"

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_**So, those mistakes... Meh. Late, I know, I've been busy. EOIs these past weeks and I've got finals coming up and a super hard Web Design project that I'm only 3/10ths the way throught~! Ugh! I'm supposed to be starting piano lessons soon, so that con be considered good! I'm super excited!**_

_**I've decided to do shorter chapters but fast updates because fuck your feelings (I'm kidding, you guys keep me going)!**_


	15. Let's Get Reacquianted

**_Words:1,318_**

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He watched his assistant with a smirk hidden behind his mask. She had her camera up ready to take pictures but her eyes were closed. Before he could register the tears forming in the corner of her eyes, she swiped them away and began to furiously take pictures. Yukino was a strange girl; her personality was soft even when she tried to act tough. It was a wonder she made it this far in the game she was playing. He bit back a laugh at the agitated expression she held. What a strange girl.

He directed his gaze back to the kidnapping in progress and saw that he already missed most the fun. Lucy was pressed flat to the floor and already unconscious. He heard the faint sound of the shutters of the camera closing and opening.

Rufus came from one of the changing room stalls and tossed Lucy over his shoulder before leading the way out the store. He saw the younger girl, Angel if his memory is correct, toss a quick look around the store, presumably in search for their victim's friends. Seeing that there was no one, she smiled a bit and closed the door.

Mr. R. had to wonder how she hadn't noticed him. He was wearing an eye catching mask and was obviously not searching for clothes in the racks. He tossed a glance at his assistant and was grateful that she was far more intelligent than Angel.

"Yukino, do you have the letter?"

She shuffled through her purse for a bit before pulling out crisp envelope with only a single address on it. "Yes sir, how are we going to deliver it?"

She could almost hear his cocky smirk in his next words. "Just leave that to me." He grabbed the envelope from her and began to stalk away. "Get the car ready, I want to be out of here _yesterday_."

Rogue grabbed a magazine from one of the chairs near the dressing room and deposited the envelope into it. He tilted his head down as if he were actually reading but kept his eyes up so he could scout out her friends.

They stood together in a group at the front of the store each with a slightly worried look on their faces. Just as he came into their line of view, they went off together towards the changing rooms. He began to stagger and walk distractedly until he bumped in to the shortest of their group, Levy.

"I apologize, I wasn't watching." He smirked at the worried glance she tossed over her shoulder at the group of girls leaving her behind. Her brows were furrowed as she took in his Chinese dragon mask.

"It's no problem." She bowed and adjusted the crooked shoulder strap of her purse and quickly made after her friends.

Mr. R. walked away with a small smile on his face. He tossed the magazine on a random rack of clothes before he left. Waiting for him was Yukino with a sober expression on her face. "The letter is with Levy McGarden, there is nothing left to worry about. Make haste, I want out of Magnolia."

**XxXxXxX**

Before she opened her eyes, her mind played through the events at the store. Lucy knew immediately that she wasn't at home with Natsu. Her back was sticking to the table she was laid out on. She didn't have to open her eyes to know she was on a lab table. She cracked open one eye and saw that the room she was in was pitch dark except for the red dot some ways away from her.

She attempted to move a hand to knock away the stray strands of hair resting on her cheek. She quickly realized that her hands where bound next to her sides to the table. She tried to move her legs just to confirm that they too were bound to the table.

Lucy held in a sigh and frowned a bit at the realization that she wasn't freaking out. Maybe she knew that he'd find her eventually. She should've said something about Minerva. She thought it was nothing. She was wrong again.

She kept her eyes open waiting for someone to come to her, they'd have to eventually. With everything she knew he was, Sting wasn't a murderer. Vaguely she wondered if she was in Bosco or Fiore; not that it would matter if no one knew where she was either.

She closed her eyes again and tried to go back to sleep but as soon as her eyes closed, she became hyper aware of everything around her.

Why was she sweating when it wasn't even that hot in here? It couldn't be anything more than room temperature. With the thoughts about the climate she was in, she realized that if she focused, she could feel a slight breeze tickling the fine hairs of her arms and legs. This gave her some relief; she shaved her legs the morning of their outing. If the leg hairs were growing back but still so short, it couldn't have been more than a day since she encountered Minerva.

She allowed a small smile to grace her face before frowning as the realization struck her that she shouldn't feel anything on her shoulders. It was then that she recognized her state of undress. She couldn't feel the straps of her bra or the faint tickle of the tag in the back. She could feel, however, feel the strings of her thong grasping onto her hips.

At least she was slightly covered, better little than nothing.

As time went on, Lucy continued to think about the room she was in and how much of it was her fault. She recognized that she was in an air conditioned room after hearing the A/C units turn on and off a couple of times.

She began to grow angry with herself, with Sting, and with Minerva. She couldn't bring herself to feel anything but thanks for her Fairy Tail family. Erza, especially for keeping her promise and not telling anyone of her sighting of Minerva. She allowed another smile onto her face lasting only as long to the one before as her thoughts turned back to herself.

She knew from day one that she should've told Natsu about recognizing the woman the Count was with. She knew from day one that Sting was going to find her again. She knew from day one that helping Blair would mean abandoning her friends and the closest thing she's ever had to family since her mother's death. She also knew that she would do anything for her friends; old and new alike.

Even though she knew that she'd one day have to return to Sting, she was angry that he found her so soon. She wanted to spend more time with Natsu and Erza and Gray and everyone! She didn't want to go back to him; she liked talking about her novel with Levy; she enjoyed spending her days painting and crafting together with the girls in the guild. She wanted to be lying in bed secretly enjoying the warmth Natsu gave her; even if as soon as Natsu began to awaken, she would kick him off and make a big deal about it.

Just as the first tears slipped from her eyes, the lights of the room came on with a blinding force. A slightly crackly voice came and filled the room.

"Have you missed me so much that you're willing to cry at the chance to see me again? I'm flattered truly, Lucy."

Lucy sneered at the voice she used to so strongly fear. She didn't know why she was crying but what she did know was that Natsu would come for her. She forced a smile onto her face knowing that her could see her clearer than day. "It's been a while, Sting."

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**_Just a short lil thing to hold you over while I take a break for finals. I should be studying so hard right now but I'm not. Next chapter we go over to the Fairy Tail-ers POV of her kidnapping! And more Mr. R. cause I like him and something something Lucy!_**

**_And you've probably noticed but I have writers block again! I know what's going to happen and how it's going to happen, I just don't know how to type it out. Please be patient with me!_**

**_Thank you to KawaiiODango, Lolita-chi, FTknowitall and kieli13 for reviewing to the last two chapters! Again, I'm sorry for not replying but if it makes you feel any better, I do read all of them and they do make me smile and squeal cause someone liked it enough to respond. THANK YOU!_**

**_p.s. I figured ya'll might like to know that _Top of the Ladder_ is almost over! It'll be the first story I finished so I'm excited!._**


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